it was one of those weeks

(Amarillo) Even while her supporters accused Obama supporters of believing in and saying nothing but “...change…change…change...,” Hillary Clinton was repeating her own mantra as she gazed toward Texas this week “...firewall…firewall…firewall…” As the Clintons understood it, one tried-and-true method of fighting fires was to set a controlled blaze ahead of the fire. But as Hillary and Bill-- of all people-- should have known, there is no such thing as a controlled burn in politics. So it was that fire truck sirens began blaring across Amarillo Wednesday afternoon, soon to spill out into the larger Panhandle.

The Panhandle was ablaze, and Bill Clinton, smelling of gasoline, was trying on a pair of Tony Lamas and some borrowed Wrangler jeans. He might soon have to visit the Panhandle officially, and he wanted to look like the natives. “What do you think,” he asked his daughter, “should I go with the Stetson or the John Deere trucker's cap?” Chelsea laughed out loud, and told him he looked like a German tourist.

Meanwhile, an individual who was looking more and more like a German from seventy years earlier had returned. The headline in the Amarillo Globe-Republican read “Pickens files for PGCD directorship” but most Amaristas no doubt read that last word as “dictatorship” as they spewed a good portion of their morning Sanka, their Roasters lattes, or their Route 44 Dr. Peppers from Sonic across Thursday’s paper. Pickens for his part was sleeping late. He had been up late the previous evening picketing (or, as he called it “Pickensitting”) Fire Station #4 on East Hastings. He carried a sign reading, “Rising demand must be met by higher prices!” and periodically stopped to wave his grouchy old man’s fist at the station. “Stop throwing away this water!” he would yell. “You’re throwing my money on this fire!”

It was one of those weeks.

spacedark