As I write this, I have been “puzzling my puzzler”, contemplating several “What Ifs”?

What if…President Barack Hussein Obama actually loved this country, her history, her culture, and her people?

But, instead, he said this during his Presidential Campaign:

Barack Obama described small-town Pennsylvanians as “bitter,” distrustful have-nots who “cling to guns or religion” – prompting his foes to accuse him of being a condescending snob.

During a private fund-raiser last weekend in San Francisco, Obama said “the jobs have been gone now for 25 years” in a lot of small towns.

“They fell through the Clinton administration and the Bush administration and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate. And they have not,” Obama continued in the riff first reported by the Huffington Post Web site.

What if…his Domestic Policies had actually worked?

But, instead, Americans are struggling in the worst economy in our lifetimes.

While the official unemployment figures continue to hover around 9% in the U.S., the real unemployment rate is closer to 16% when you factor in all those who are unemployed or significantly underemployed.

What if…we had a First Lady who took on a worthwhile cause like, say, Literacy?

But, instead, we have one that accomplishes this:

“Jumper in chief” Michelle Obama led 464 local students on the South Lawn in an effort to break a Guinness World Record for the most people jumping in a 24-hour period — the old record was 20,425. On Monday, National Geographic Kids magazine and the first lady revealed the results of the challenge.

“Today, I am proud to announce we broke that old record — and not by just a little bit,” she said in a video about the “Let’s Move” project. “With your help, we had 300,265 people jumping that day.”

To be fair, not every kid at the White House did jumping jacks for required one minute — some were so excited to be with the first lady that they just bounced up and down next to her. Apparently not a problem, though. It’s the fifth Guinness record the magazine has helped engineer, following Longest Line of Footprints and Largest Gathering of Plush Toys, among other things you didn’t know they kept records on.

What if…we had a Congress who actually performed their duties?

But, instead…

The Senate on Wednesday [12/14/11] voted against changing the Constitution to require a balanced budget as Congress hit yet another dead end in its search for a way out of its fiscal morass.

Two proposals for balanced budget amendments were doomed by the partisanship that dominates Congress. All but one Republican voted against a Democratic measure, and every Democrat opposed the GOP-backed version. Amendments to the Constitution must be approved by two-thirds of the House and Senate and three-fourths of state legislatures.

With the votes, Congress fulfilled a commitment to take up balanced budget amendments that were part of the agreement last summer to raise the government’s debt limit in exchange for $2 trillion in future spending cuts.

The House held its vote last month, falling 23 votes short of reaching the two-thirds majority.

Last month also marked the failure of the supercommittee, another product of the debt limit agreement, to come up with a course of action for making inroads into $1 trillion-a-year deficits and a national debt that has topped $15 billion.

And finally, what if…Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin had not dropped out of the race for the  Republican Presidential Nominee?

But, instead…we’ve got the Battle of the Squishes:

Mr. Romney is seeking to paint Mr. Gingrich as “an unreliable conservative” on issues like climate change. And he is seizing on a remark Mr. Gingrich made this week, condemning Mr. Romney for profiting from layoffs and corporate restructuring he oversaw in his years running Bain Capital, that many conservative commentators said sounded like a Democratic antibusiness refrain.

Mr. Romney said voters should take a closer look at Mr. Gingrich’s history of policy ideas.

“Zany is not what we need in a president,” Mr. Romney said. “Zany is great in a campaign. It’s great on talk radio. It’s great in print, it makes for fun reading, but in terms of a president, we need a leader, and a leader needs to be someone who can bring Americans together.”

Supporters, advisers and donors to Mr. Romney acknowledge a deep sense of concern. Mr. Romney finds himself in the vexing position of being perceived in many polls as the strongest Republican candidate to challenge President Obama by being able to attract moderates and independents, but facing an increasingly difficult battle for the Republican nomination because of resistance to his candidacy among conservatives.

It is a pleasant diversion to ask “what if” every now and then.  It’s a welcome relief from the stress of reality.  Unfortunately, for most of us (except Paulnuts), reality is where we live.

Yes, if “ifs and buts” were candy and nuts we’d all have a Merry Christmas.  But, you know, take a word of advice from ol’ KJ, and don’t let the stress of a failed economic policy and the reality of a cobwebbed wallet spoil your Christmas.

Draw your family and friends close to you.  And together, remember the Reason for the Season.