Standard-Examiner Guest Commentary: Utah’s Leaders Need to Tone Down Rhetoric Against President

Hopefully Utah's wing-nut federal legislative delegation write it down so they don't forget it and accordingly tone it down

The Standard-Examiner provides a tip-top guest commentary in this morning's online edition, with the below-linked Steve Olson editorial, containing an earnest admonition, among other things, against what Mr. Olson characterizes the "never-ending negative political grandstanding of Hatch, Lee and Bishop against President Obama and the Democrats, including pot shots at Hatch’s old Republican Senate colleague, new Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel."

Mr. Olson frames his editorial rgument in an entirely plausible scenario in the near future when Obama's Democratic Party administration, in an effort to wind down post-war military spending, will in all likelihood, consider closing down at least one Air Force base base in the western United States, in which connection he asks this probing question, which clearly lays out the dilemma which Hill Air Force supporters face:

Should we [Democrats] close Nellis, north of Las Vegas, just up the road from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s home in what will be a solidly Democratic state by [the time of the next base closure]? Or do we close Hill? It’s hard to see how we win that argument, despite the obvious merits in favor of Hill. Anyone who thinks these decisions are made in the absence of politics is loony.

"Politics ain't beanbag," as the old saying goes; and if future U.S. base closure decisions come down to politics, as Mr. Olson aptly points out, under an Obama administration, Utah - realistically speaking - is quite likely to be left holding the "short" end of the stick.

You can check out Mr. Olson's full guest editorial here, which is chock-full of practical political wisdom, wethinks:

• Utah’s leaders need to tone down rhetoric against president

We issued a similar warning here on Weber County Forum back in January of 2012, by the way, wherein we posed the question: "Would it be a good idea for our sole Utah Democratic Party House Representative Jim Matheson to waltz over to the Senate Office Building, slap Mike Lee upside the head, and then politely ask him to "cool his jets?":

• Another Perspective on the Possibility of a Hill Air Force Base Closure

Within that same article we also provided a link to Utah's own legislatively-funded 2004 Utah Defense Alliance study, which provides, in gripping detail, the potentially devastating consequences of a Hill Air Force Base closure:

• Economic, Demographic and Fiscal Impacts of Closing Hill Air Force Base: A Statewide and Regional Analysis

The prospect of further U.S. military base closures isn't hypothetical, by the way, inasmuch as the Obama administration is still keeping "inevitable" base closures right there "on the front burner":

• Panetta: More Rounds of Base Closures Are Inevitable

So in closing we'll just remark that it's one thing for Utah politicians to publicly pander to their right-wing Utah base; and quite another to recklessly place our heavily military-dependent Northern Utah economy at risk of political payback with overly inflammatory political rhetoric.

A Weber County Forum Tip O' the Hat to LDS Democratic Caucus vice-chair Steve Olson for contributing this morning's eye-opening S-E guest editorial.

Hopefully Utah's wing-nut federal legislative delegation write it down so they don't forget it, and accordingly tone down the silly and self-defeating political rhetoric.