I had early training in the imagination of America's political class, and the hope and change all that means. Meaning, I once saw Richard Nixon in public when he came to my town, and it made a great impression on me. See, he lit an eternal flame to inspire us all. And two weeks later the city elders put it out because of some energy crisis or other. (Six Day War?)

Since then, I've been a great admirer of politicians and their ways with words, especially when they try to stir the imagination. It's kinda like watching someone try to light their own fart for the first time - more stink and contortion than flame and explosion, but somehow you applaud the effort anyway.

So I'm struck by one more attempt to take our wee brains to places mankind was never meant to go. (Cue John Ashcroft singing "Where Eagles Soar"). Hear the warnings of one who's been their, who pushed the veil to look in on the dark side, and came back shaking his head:

But it is impossible to imagine a future for Libya with Qaddafi in power.

Damn straight it is. That's like imagining a peanut butter and sauerkraut sandwich (a concoction I came up with after mixing a large amount of beer with equal amount of gin, though fortunately not in the same glass, just in the same stomach). But anyway, uurrrppp, I digress. What I mean is, that's like imagining pancakes without syrup, ham without eggs, rump roast without the rump.

I mean, I wish I had the power of speech he has to express things so succinctly, and also just the cognition and forewarning and caution to warn us off the dangerous path. Just like it wasn't that long ago when a well-know politician noted,

No one could have foreseen people flying planes into buildings.

Which also struck me as particularly brilliant - after all, I'd seen movies of people flying planes into buildings, but I never actually visualized real people doing it. And then after 9/11, I understood why. Because it is chromosomically impossible for people to have the genetic makeup to imagine live humans flying planes into buildings. [one curious study did show it possible to imagine flying buildings into planes, but it was later shown that the author of the treatise was a French exchange student studying from bipolar disorder and too much reading of Derrida]

So because we've been shown the limits of imaginiation and presumably hallucination, we've now drawn the obvious conclusion that if we can't imagine it, it must disappear. Ceci n'ést pas un pipe. So soon Monsieur Qaddafi will hop into his top hat for the last time, being replaced by a bouquet of flowers or a long-eared rabbit or a flower-eating rabbit. It is ordained, it is foretold. By one who knows. Of course *WE'RE* likely to still be there in 10 years, but not Qaddafi. Inch'allah.

So for those following our adventures in Libya (who hopefully will explain to me what happened down in the comments, as I do seem to have got a bit lost in all the throes, attacks and counter-attacks, taking the port and losing it...), our no-fly zone is proceeding swimmingly.

See, we are protecting civilians. Which is our mandate. And if we need to change the head of state to protect the civilians, well, that's peachy, as it kind of fits in with what we wanted to do anyway. But that's not why we're doing it. We just want to protect the people. No one could imagine another reason. And no one could imagine Qaddafi just sitting there in another 10 years kinda like Hussein did after Gulf War I. That would be... unimaginable, for lack of a better word. Even if it worked within our mandate, it just...defies imagination!!!

So as I proceed back into the Imaginarium, to find a friend who seems to have gotten a trifle lost, I hope I may be excused a bit of overreach as I try to hit my own run of political wisdom. For example:

"No one could imagine cutting off stock broker bonuses in the middle of a financial bailout."

"It's impossible to imagine balancing the budget (or lower the runaway debt) without veering off and tackling an unrelated Social Security issue"

"It strains the imagination to think that it's possible to invade a Mideast country and have a plan ahead of time."

"3 out of 4 doctors say the brain is not equipped to comprehend imagining raising taxes in the middle of financial negotiations over bringing down a huge deficit."

"It's extremely difficult to imagine why people would be upset over stripping naked and placing in solitary a treasonous soldier who released information about how corrupt the countries we're propping up are".

So now your turn, time to pitch in and help the Imaginarium.

"It strains the imagination to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  .

Best answer wins Breakfast at Tiffany's if Tiffany answers her phone after a late night at the techno bar. 

Second best - one night in Bangkok. No, not the city. The song. Listening to it over and oaver and over again. Special kudos if you can lisp the gay-lisped lines without feeling like you're 12 years old again or stuck with irritating polyester people at a retro disco.

Third best... well, to give credit to WC Fields, "Philadelphia". And if you're not ready to die and grow a tombstone over your head, then perhaps a photo or a left-over Elton John jingle.

So everyone, start your Imaginarium engines. And get out their and strain our credulity.

Update: sad to say, someone suggests Obama might have exaggerated the civilian risk in Libya. And the rebels might have released a few hyperbolic press releases as well. Say it ain't so - it really wasn't Inchon and Dresden combined?