New Orleans You get the feeling that the popular Republican political embrace of “servant” leadership is more like a simple handshake or an air kiss than a full pressure bear hug.  Too many of them seem to be saying, well “me first” and then, hey, if I have time, I might squeeze in a couple of rounds as President.

Mitt Romney from Massachusetts by way of the deserts of Utah and the barren industrial wastelands of Michigan seems to have a think of sea views.  Here is a guy running for President, a voice for all of the people, who a year and change before the election, lets slip that, oh, hey, I’m tearing down my 3900 square foot “cabin” in freaking La Jolla, California (one of the richest zip codes in the USA needless to say) hard by the water next to San Diego to build something with a little more room at over 11000 square feet.  I could compare this to the hutments in Dharvi or the redevelopment plans in Mumbai or Delhi that put families in 250 to 300 square feet, but that would be apples and oranges, I guess.  Maybe the average size of half of a New Orleans shotgun double, running at 750 square feet would be a better comparison along the lines of sour grapes to fine wine.  Come on, man!

I guess Romney is something of a radical though, since he’s sunning on the West Coast.  An article recently in the Times about Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, Ann Coulter, and the like all ending up as virtual neighbors in Palm Beach, Florida on the East Coast was wildly creepy.  Obviously there’s something in the water down there that needs to be avoided by any means necessary.  Oh, and they point out that West Palm Beach County is staunchly Democratic and blue to the bone, well, looks like the neighborhood is changing for the rich flamethrowers of the right.

Sarah Palin seems to be about the only one of that breed that once again sticks out having chosen the blistering heat of the Arizona desert around Phoenix for her lower 48 base, rather than a sea view.  Course with Sarah, you never know, she might have thought the water line was rising and that she could see the Pacific from Phoenix, just like she used to watch over Russia from Anchorage, Alaska.