President Barack Obama’s speech on Tuesday night has garnered some negative reviews, not so much due to the message itself – that’s inconsequential, after all – as much as the difficult language used by our Commander-in-Chief. Paul Payack, the president of Global Language Monitor, a Texas-based company that analyzes the cultural impact of word choices, considered President Obama’s speech to have been written at a 9.8 grade level.

In other words, you probably had to have gone to high school in order to understand it.

Here’s a sentence from President Obama’s speech, chosen by Mr. Payack as particularly difficult to follow:

“That is why just after the rig sank, I assembled a team of our nation’s best scientists and engineers to tackle this challenge – a team led by Dr. Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and our nation’s secretary of energy.”

On the other hand, a phrase like “oil began spewing” was supposedly more comprehensible.

Perhaps it is because English is not my native language, or that I never experienced the American public education system first-hand, but I did not find President Obama’s speech difficult to follow. In my opinion, that sentence which Mr. Payack singled out, is simple and to the point.

I am, quite frankly, disturbed by the notion that the President of the United States should dumb down and simplify his speeches to match the intellects of the academically uninspired. I would go so far as to suggest that the “leader of the free world” should be speaking at a 10th grade level or higher.

Perhaps we got spoiled by those eight years with Bush.

The layman definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results.

That mentality, incidentally, also appears to be the cornerstone of Republican politics. We have seen it many times before: start a war or two, give tax cuts to the rich, and expect the national debt to decrease. If at first you don’t succeed…

In a recent tweet, Senator John McCain said he was “ready to sit down to do what’s right for the American people.” No, he’s not drafting a letter of resignation; he wants to “start over” the health care reform. Senator McCain’s suggestion is proof that the Republicans truly have more great ideas regarding health care reform than you can shake a teabag at.

Didn’t we just spend an entire year hashing and rehashing the disaster that is the American health care system? Were we not treated to hours of news broadcasts about village idiots in 18th century garments, gathering together to yell about socialism, Nazis, and other topics completely unrelated to the health care debate?

Did we even have a debate?

President Obama has stated that he’s eager to reach a bipartisan understanding, but is not interested in starting the reform debate over from scratch.

When John McCain was running for President in 2008, and Barack Obama announced his desire to rebuild the American health care system, McCain was quick to point out that the Republicans, too, had ideas for health care reform. Now, after a year of reform debates, it seems evident that the primary “idea” they have is to oppose whatever the Democrats are suggesting.

I can see why the concept of starting over from the beginning would seem logical to Senator McCain. For one thing, he gets hired elected for six years at a time. What’s another year to him to piss away on going over the same arguments for the umpteenth time? It would also be tremendously convenient for the GOP to still have the teabagger movement be in full steam when the elections roll around this fall. I can already envision the Republican campaign ads, declaring that it’s “your last chance to stop this insane health reform.”

A successful health care rehaul would simultaneously be the best thing to happen to this country in a long time, and the worst thing to happen to the GOP. I’m not surprised that they would be eager to put the train back at the station.

I guess it’s time to send Bill Clinton to North Korea again.

Last year, Clinton traveled to Pyongyang to secure the release of two American journalists who had wandered onto North Korean territory. I’ve always regarded Clinton as a great diplomat, and that incident certainly reinforced that perception.

Two more Americans now appear to have crossed the Chinese border over to North Korea, illegally. Wonder who we should send this time to negotiate for their release?

I don’t know why these people can’t keep out of that territory when they know full well that they’re not wanted there, and face over a decade of hard labor as their punishment, if captured. The United States do not have an embassy in North Korea, and have to conduct their diplomatic business through the Swedes. Each time we have to go there to try and bail out some hapless missionary or journalist, it’s a lot of time, energy, and money spent on an attempt at a diplomatic exchange with an aggressive nation with which we’re not on very good terms to begin with.

I do understand that there is probably a great deal of need for humanitarian assistance in North Korea, and around its Chinese border. Similarly, unfiltered news from this region undoubtedly depend on courageous journalists to enter areas where they may not always be welcome. However, I’d like to see these missionaries and journalists try and acquire access through legitimate, diplomatic means. This country, just like all others, has laws, and is keen on enforcing them.

I just don’t think we can keep sending Bill Clinton there every time someone decides to disregard those laws, no matter how gallant their reason for doing so may be.

It must be difficult for the GOP these days. On one hand, they want to continue to appeal to Bible-thumping, teabagging, gun-toting bigots, but on the other, they also want to extend their congregation beyond the high school drop-outs and the plantation owners. This level of re-branding is hard enough to do without the family of one of their most recognizable Senators breaking ranks with the party on one of their core issues.

Senator John McCain’s wife, Cindy, recently posed for a website promoting the NoH8 Campaign. I was admittedly quite shocked when I saw an article about it on CNN.com – I don’t know how a prune like Sen. McCain managed to land such a looker of a wife.

At any rate, McCain’s daughter, Meghan, is scheduled to speak at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The GW College Republicans were at first excited by the news; they were under the impression that Meghan McCain was going to speak about “Redefining Republican: No Labels, No Boxes, No Stereotypes.”

Unfortunately, what these budding young Republicans were not expecting was that Ms. McCain’s speech would occur during the college’s LGBT rights group’s “Marriage Equality Week,” and that the unusually open-minded young Republican may use the platform to express her own refreshingly positive views on gay marriage.

Threatened by the concept of a Republican with thoughts of her own, the GW College Republicans quickly withdrew their funding from Ms. McCain’s speaking engagement, which will carry on regardless.

I guess we got a little too close to talking about “no labels, no boxes, no stereotypes” and actually meaning something by it.?

As I sat scooping the litter box, the universe opened herself up to me, and all was revealed.

In 2008, majority leader Harry Reid made an “unfortunate remark” about then-candidate Barack Obama. Apparently, Reid suggested that Obama could be a successful candidate, despite his African-American heritage, because he was “light-skinned” and did not have a “Negro dialect.”

Obama himself has said that Reid has apologized for the remark and the case is closed. Of course, this doesn’t make much of a difference since Reid already has the Republican party on his scent due to the health care reform agenda. Many moons ago, one Republican majority leader (Trent Lott) lost his post after he went to the 100th birthday party of Senator Strom Thurmond, and opened his mouth about how Sen. Thurmond would have made a great president. Thurmond had run a campaign based on ideals of segregation and small government.

Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate in 2008, has stated that he considers it a “double standard” that the Democrats should let Reid off so easily, after the way Lott was treated.

I haven’t seen anyone dispute what Reid said has being false, though. Offensive? Sure. Inaccurate? Hardly.

I don’t see the double standard. Reid essentially noted that Obama could win the election because he’s not “black Black” and he doesn’t “talk like diz, yo.” It’s a nice fallacy to think that race had no hand in that election, but it certainly did. Of course it did.

Lott, on the other hand, said that we wouldn’t have the problems we have today, had Thurmond – who vehemently opposed giving African-Americans the right to vote – won his presidential bid in 1948. Although, Lott may have been referring to the fact that Thurmond was a firm believer in small government. At any rate, I doubt anyone was particularly surprised to see this coming from a Republican politician.

It’s apples and oranges, but okay. Sure. I’ll submit that I am generally unimpressed with Reid, if that helps. Sure, remove him from his post as majority leader, if it’s that important, and if there’s really nothing more important to talk about on Capitol Hill. Like health care, maybe, or perhaps, you know, jobs. I am so far past the point of caring about what some politician quipped in an unofficial context behind closed doors some years ago. Ya feel me?

It’s good to see that the Republicans are keeping themselves busy, though, while the evil Democrats conduct their secret Socialist health care reform meetings. We wouldn’t want to lose focus off the stuff that really matters, right?

A nurse by the name of Jerry Lucas, the man behind MaleNurseMagazine.com, is a great guy. I’ve been a reader of his site for a long time. I don’t remember when it was that I first heard about his site, but it was well before Hurricane Katrina. He was at Ground Zero after 9/11. After Katrina, when another hurricane was approaching inland United States, he was organising and preparing rescue groups consisting of medical professionals. After the government bailed out Wall Street, he filed a civil suit against the Treasury to find out where exactly that money was going.

When he invited me to join his Facebook group, “I Am The Resistance 2010,” I joined it despite the fact that Jerry and I don’t really see eye to eye when it comes to politics. He does, however, mean well, and he does really and truly have the best interests of the country and its citizens at heart. I have a lot of respect for Jerry Lucas.

But what is this “resistance” about?

Judging by what I have read, Jerry wants to remove all current politicians from office, and replace them with new faces. He seems to feel that the best interests of the country have been sold out by those who have been involved in the healthcare reform.

Who do we replace them with? How do we gauge the integrity, honesty, and intentions of those who will seek office in 2010? Are we supposed to just assume that anyone who opposes the reform bill will be the right man or woman for the job?

I’m just not sure what it is that I am supposed to be “resisting”.

Now, those were not the greatest eight years this country has ever seen, I’ll admit that right off the bat. Yet, I can’t help but miss having George in the White House. Here’s why.

I miss the silence. Seems like every other day Obama is giving a speech or a lecture or tap-dancing in front of the cameras to promote one issue or another. George W. Bush had no need for such antics. It was never “open mike” at the White House. He kept his appearances among the riff-raff to a minimum. The only times the general public was addressed by the President was during the annual State of the Union speech and whenever we attacked another country.

I miss the honesty. George did not make any promises about getting us out of Afghanistan. He said from the go that we were in this for the long haul. Freedom came at a price, we knew, and each time George asked Congress for another $80 billion, we knew where that money was going – to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I also miss the patriotism.

People cheered when Chicago lost its Obama-backed bid for hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. Sure it would have generated up to billions in local revenue, but it was too much fun to see something Obama was fighting for – such as, you know, America – get laughed at by the Brazilians.

Had George still been in office, the whole thing would have been a non-issue. Since the Olympics would have been too far off in the future – much like the effects of the supposed global warming – to land on his administration, it would not have even been on the agenda.

When the Norwegians announced that they were giving Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, we all shook our fists. What right do the Europeans have to give a prestigious award to our President? We quickly loaded both barrels and missed no opportunity to point out that the President of the United States had not done anything to earn such an award. We never had to worry about peace prizes or even invitations to Europe when Bush was in charge.

People were simply more patriotic back then. People had some damn respect for their President, even when we did not always agree with him. Hell, we elected him to office twice. Now that was patriotism.

Sure, vicious minds would circulate emails badmouthing Bush about things he had done, or things he had hopelessly mishandled; little things, like foreign policy or the economy. But at least he did those things. In the absence of any real accomplishments, the conservatives are left with no choice but to condemn the President on things he might do, or things we fear he will do because of his middle name.

It’s hard to run a country like that.

Lastly, about all this talk about health care. We have been hearing about this reform business ever since the guy took office, and I am sure I am not the only one who is downright sick of it. We never had to worry about health care when George Walker Bush was President. You got sick, you died. Your kids got sick, they died. It was just understood. Government officials from Australia would fly in for surgery while the rest of us bled to death in the E.R. Now that was a concept that didn’t take a year to wrap your head around.