“You look up and down the bench and you have to say to yourself, ‘Can’t anybody here play this game?'”

Casey Stengel

Toward the end of Casey Stengel’s managerial contributions to major league baseball, the manager that had led the New York Yankees to 10 American League pennants and 7 World Series titles, was saddled with the responsibility of attempting to shepherd the expansion New York Metropolitans (Mets) through their inaugural 1962 campaign.  The result was a major league record of futility of 120 losses against 40 wins.  Thus the quote.

The ‘Old Perfessor’ as Stengel was referred to, didn’t grow up with much personal education, but his vast experience innately told him what worked and didn’t work, and he was able to recognize when he was simply not putting a competitive team on the field.  He further stated, “ Been in this game one hundred years, but I see new ways to lose’em I didn’t know existed before.”

What would the Old Perfessor say about America’s current team?  Has the United States, for decades the undisputed champion of freedom and personal initiative, progressively become the New York Mets of 1962?  Is there anything about the leadership team pictured above that provides one with the sense that real devoted professionals are at work?  Stengel said of his first baseman on the Mets, ‘Marvelous’ Marv Thornberry, on the occasion of his birthday, ” We was going to get you a birthday cake, but we figured you would drop it.”  What indication do we have that current team, facing so many enormous current challenges, wont simply ‘drop it’?

One might argue that Boehner and Mitchell have been outliers in the horrific record of the last six years, as President Obama had complete control with Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid for two years, and four more years with Reid blocking any contrary corrective actions to the Obama wayward drift for the past four.  A tweet graph circulating the internet puts into perspective the domestic performance statistics of the so called professionals on the Democrat team:

How will Boehner and Mitchell respond to a President that is actually proud of such a record?  Well, Stengel shifted players on the 1963 and 1964 teams and they did improve, losing ‘only’ 111 and 109 games respectively the next two years.  Are Boehner and Mitchell, the Tim Harkness of today?  Harkness was the successor to Marvelous Marv Thornberry at first base on the inept 1963 and 1964 Met teams, achieving a lifetime .235 average in his brief major league career. A step up, but not much.

What can we expect of these guys who have been participants in increasing the debt of the nation by 70% in just six years, initiated a pathetically conceptualized government takeover of healthcare of one sixth of the economy, struggled to define any form of a recognizable immigration policy that preserves the integrity of the nation’s borders, not to mention tipping over hard won stability in Iraq and Afghanistan,  or  identifiable security in Libya, Syria, Egypt,  and Ukraine?  What can we expect of people who have participated in defense contraction at a time of significant hostile expansion?

Okay – Lets assume its spring training and hope springs eternal for this team.  Let’s ignore the bombastic state of the union speech as a lagging, out of date indicator of what we can really expect in the coming season.  Maybe these guys will recognize that we can not possibly afford another losing season.  We can give them a chance – but I say, the leash is short.  If it looks like the same old, same old come the start of the regular season, its time to fire the whole bunch.