In 2010, on this day Sarah Louise Palin was sworn in as the first woman President of the United States after John McCain suffered a heart attack at the Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana where he had been overseeing the crisis management of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster.
Woman solves man-made disaster
Characteristically, McCain had been honouring a campaign pledge that had he been president during the Hurricane Katrina Disaster, he would have flown to the nearest Air Force base to oversee the response.
The Deepwater catastrophe had begun with the initial rig explosion on April 20. "And, unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it is not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days" ~ former President Candidate Barack ObamaThe subsequent fire on a semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit created a massive ongoing offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest in U.S. history and an environmental disaster.
Doubtless, what was required over the coming months was the deft crisis management of a national leader such as John F Kennedy. Instead having charged down to Louisiana McCain could hardly disengage with the crisis worstening.
In 2012, the Hundred and Twelfth Congress of the United States settled in for a session that would last a total of three weeks before it disbanded for the year. The majority of the American people had conveyed through Tea Party rallies nation wide that they wanted a brief, truncated legislative session so that no one in Congress could usurp power and spend months in constant and expensive session.
Woman solves man-made disaster Part 2On the first day of Congress, both Houses were convened for memorial services in memory of John McCain and his journey to the Gulf Coast.
"Maybe John did not know what to do there," said Joe Lieberman, "but he made sure he was on the spot, even if nobody had figured out all of the details by the time he got there". Speaker Boehner called two Democrats out of order when they attempted to introduce criticism of McCain strategy when the purpose of the memorial was clearly labelled "commemoration of the life and activities of John McCain".
The sixty Democrats left in Congress (forty in the House and the rest in the Senate) tried again to complain about the President's policy in stopping the oil spill. "Okey-dokey," said Sarah Palin addressing Cogress. "You would have let that leak go on for years and even longer, and everything that could have gone wrong in the Gulf of Mexico would have up and happened. I made the tough choice and stopped the deterioration of the Gulf in one step, saving it from the misfortune that would have come had no one had the gumption to do what was necessary, when it was necessary".
In the second week of Congress' session, two thirds majorities in both Houses passed the Life Amendment that expressly cancelled Roe and outlawed "any research on human genetic material" and sent that amendment out for the States to pass on its merit. Similar majorities outlawed gay-sex marriage and gave States the ability to make homosexual sex a felony, and abolished all "laws, rules and regulations, which restrain law abiding Americans from the posssession and use of weapons and firearms of their choice".
"Sarah. Mrs.President Palin," said Justice Scalia at a televised dinner in her honor, "we all miss John McCain greatly, but we have to be honest and admit that your movement to the Oval Office liberated this country and made possible our restoration of American values. All the problems have been wiped away and you are restoring everything that needs it".
On the top floor of the White House. Palin looked through her calendar and Todd commented:
"You got a full hour with Clinton, Obama and Kerry at the Oval Office. All those wimps are going to insist that the denial of citizenship is unconstitutional for babies born in the States".
Sarah shrugged and grinned. "Duh. Dontcha think they ought to someday tell me they will let me make up my own mind on what I read in the Constitution?"
"They are a waste of time," said Todd.
"I'll have my secretary buzz me if they get too tiresome for me to stand them," said Palin. "But I have to keep my ears open to what the other side is saying, or else my opinions will close up and I will be like them: a know it all asshole who goes out.