"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings.”

(From Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.)

A presidential campaign is a job interview, a chance for us all to examine the candidates and determine if they have the right stuff to fill the toughest job in the world.

After paying attention for the last several years, here is my memo to the country’s HR Department.

First of all, Grandpa Don and Grandpa Joe are both too old for the job. I wrote that sentence a year ago and I believe it is true today. One candidate took the hint, the other did not. Nuff said.

Once upon a time, our nation was in turmoil over the war in Vietnam. It was a time of testing for a generation.

After spending a wonderful summer in Boothbay, I got a letter from Uncle Sam ordering me to report to the local draft board. I complied. Others did not. Some, believing it was an immoral and unjust war, fled to Canada. Some who had connections and means, asked their family to put in “the fix” to let them dodge the draft. Some found doctors who discovered mysterious ailments that disqualified their kids from serving.

Those who served took an oath to defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic.  

Many of my classmates and friends put on the uniform and did their duty. Some didn’t come home. Others returned with wounds, physical to and/or mental, that haunt them every day. If you want proof, just drive up to the VA facility in Togus and open your eyes.

Enough said on that subject.

One candidate touts his experience as a successful businessman, yet he filed bankruptcy six times when his casinos couldn’t pay their bills. I don’t know how a good businessman loses money in a casino. In a gambling joint, the house always wins, right?

A couple of years ago, our nation was hit with a pandemic that killed millions, disrupted our lives and plunged the world’s economy into a tailspin that haunts us still. It was a time that called for strong leadership and we were blessed with a leader that said one thing today and another thing the next.day. When the scientific/medical experts urged us to vaccinate, he urged us to try something else, and even wondered aloud if we could defeat the disease that killed millions with household bleach. Then he cut taxes, adding billions to the already overwhelmed national debt.

On the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021, I was driving my late bride down I-95 into Boston to visit the miracle workers at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center. I was focusing on the big city traffic, trying not to let my thoughts dwell on the ailment that was trying to kill my wife, lover, the mother of my children, and my best friend. The radio was tuned to NPR, but to me it was just a gobble of noise, until a woman’s voice said: “They have breached the Capitol.”

I nearly swerved into a guardrail as the reporters described the wild mob that was invading the very seat of our democracy, our temple of patriotism, the secular cathedral of our nation.

The mob overwhelmed the cops, who, to their credit, were supremely professional and did not open fire and turn the event into a bloodbath. The ragged mob ransacked the legislative chambers and congressional offices.

I don’t need to tell you what happened that day. We saw the TV footage over and over. We heard the words of the outgoing president and his aides who urged the mob to go to the Capitol.  "We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," he said.

These rioters broke in, smeared poop and urine through the building, and stole stuff from official offices as they searched for senior officials, including the Vice President and the Speaker of the House.

Meanwhile, the Commander in Chief sat in his office watching TV.

Today, about a thousand rioters have been convicted and jailed. He has pledged to pardon them, calling them patriots. Last week, in a televised town hall event, he called Jan. 6, 2021 “a day of love.”

His supporters have pointed to this event saying while he did this, what about the other side. They did bad stuff, too.

Well, friends, protesting mobs burning liquor stores does not offset or even come close to equating the terrible, un-American events of Jan. 6.

As for the other candidate, the Veep, who has a well known record of public service, the two biggest reasons many decline to support her are her race and her gender. Is that enough to reject her?

That is my take. What is yours?

I’ll see you at the polls on Nov. 5.