Beware of Absolutes

   Time was, an auto racetrack in New Jersey advertised itself as "the fastest high-banked, quarter-mile, macadam speedway in the East."
   Note that there are four qualifiers to the term "fastest," so this particular track may well be the only speedway in the Eastern United States that meets all four criteria. Therefore, it must be the fastest.
   With enough qualifying adjectives, a sales pitch can accurately describe anything as the best, longest, largest, fastest, only one of its kind.
   So too with politicians. Except that they claim their actions or proposals or programs are the best, finest, most productive, etc. in the history of the nation.
   The new guy in the Whine House claimed this week that his administration has been more productive in its first 90 days than any other administration in history.
   Except that anyone who pays the least attention can count his number of successes on the finger of one hand. That would be the approval of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. That approval, however, was by the U.S. Senate, not by the president, who can only nominate.
   The number of failures, on the other hand, can also be counted, beginning with the campaign promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on Day One. Didn't happen.
   Nor have many of the other promises, including construction of a southern border wall and tax reform. Sunday morning, a senior Whine House official, Reince Priebus, claimed credit for the 70 percent drop in illegal immigration from Mexico. Fact: That figure dropped on its own, as fewer people tried to cross the border. Moreover, more people have been returning southward than have been attempting to cross into America.
   Meanwhile, the estimated cost of a border wall has been soaring, and now approaches $70 billion.
   So where will the money come from? "Mexico will pay for it," said the candidate, prompting laughter from the president of Mexico.
   In other events to come this week, the new guy says he will introduce a tax reform plan on Wednesday, even as he offers a revised version of the already defeated health care bill. On top of that, Congress will have to approve a budget, or the government will shut down by the end of the week.
   So much for the highly touted success of the First Hundred Days, which will be marked on May 1.