It's time for an oil change

       America needs an oil change and it needs one in a hurry.
      The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico could potentially become one of the worst disasters our country has ever faced,  a disaster of biblical proportions, and all I can hear in the back of my mind are the words  "And the first plague was a huge cloud of oil that covered the land." Heaven only knows what's coming next, but right now, that oily mess in the gulf has the potential to forever change life as it was once known on the beautiful shores of America. It's bad, it's scary, it's devastating, it's heart breaking, it's life altering.
      Americans are looking to our elected leaders for reassurance that the situation is under control and that they are going to be able to change the course of action in the gulf. We elected a President who promised change, and although I may be a little old-fashioned and believe that not all change is necessarily in our best interest, there are some changes occurring in our world right now that are downright scary. I'm not just talking about the changes in the health care, banking, and automotive industries. I'm talking about changes in the expectation of  the behavior and attitudes of our elected officials.
     There are some standards which are best left upheld. One of those standards is the expectation that our highest leaders should exhibit the highest levels of decorum, professionalism, courtesy and respect for others, especially during tough times. This is a tough time, but it was even tougher to hear our President--the leader of the free world, the elected official representing the most powerful nation on earth--appear on national television and talk about who's "a##" he needed to kick in order to resolve the oil leak in the gulf.
    Mr. President, we elected you to be the LEADER of the free world, not the BULLY of the free world.  Imagine the standard you have just set for the rest of the nation...when things go wrong, just go kick some "a##".
    We look to our elected officials to set the example of how to appropriately resolve difficult situations with integrity, honesty,  and respectful authority. How can anyone in a position of authority ever be held accountable if they are given the green light by the President of the United States to just go kick some "a##" whenever change  is needed.
   Take a look at a few possible scenarios based on the presidential model of leadership:
-- Little Johnny misbehaves on the playground, and his teacher sends a note home to his parents that  she will have to kick his "a##" if his behavior does not change
--Mr. Smith is late on a mortgage payment, and the bank sends a loan officer over to kick his "a##" in order to collect the payment
--Emmission standards on the latest automobiles do not meet government standards, so a team of inspectors are dispatched to kick some  corporate "a##"
   --Ms. Jones exceeds the speed limit on her local highway, so the patrolman pulls her over and kicks her "a##" as punishment
The list of possibilities could go on and on, but I think you get the picture.
     If one of my children had ever said they were going to kick some "a##" in order to change  a situation, I would have immediately washed their mouths out with soap and put them in time out.  Not only would that coarse language have been offensive and repulsive, but it would have been unacceptable behavior to speak of  bullying someone in order to change a situation.
     But now, thanks to our president, the example has been set that if something goes wrong, just go out and kick some "a##".
      I'm not quite sure  how that is going to change the horrible situation in the gulf, but I can assure you it will change the moral code of Americans. Not quite the change I was looking for.
      Seems like the oil spill in the gulf is not the only thing that needs to be cleaned up.