Election 2012: Debate Stupidity

Soooo... the first debate.  I watched.  I watched the whole thing. I talked on the phone a little but I watched.  I thought Obama looked like a President and did a pretty weak job getting after Romney.  I thought Romney looked pretentious and unlikable but very competent and certainly "Presidential", whatever the hell that means.  I don't like the debates and I watch them skeptically as if it is kabuki theater.  I think intelligent people should read the news as it comes out from different sources.  Read editorials by the thinkers on both sides of the debate and try and decide which of these two deeply flawed, but brilliant men might best lead us through the next four years of pain.  Jim Leher the moderator did a fine job and was probably too nice to Obama which did make Obama seem weaker.  Still, it was not a disaster.

Until it was over.  And I flipped around with the remote.  And I found that the mainstream media, accross the board call the President a loser, a resounding loser and the drum beat got louder and louder.  It was a disaster for the President.  It was a beating!  It was carnage never seen before on Television.  Romney was Mike Tyson stomping in and beating the crap out of whimpering, simpering, frightened Obama.  The race...OVER!

This followed three weeks of Romney on the run.  47%.  A stupid convention and belated release of Tax returns where he paid more than he owed (something he thought a Presidential person would not do) and he was slipping.  But not anymore.  The media needs a horse race and he could win.  We are 51-49 country.  It looks like the swing States are for Obama but even those States it is close.  With the media coverage every gaffe is magnified and whether it is MSNBC or FO or all the cattle in between the news makes itself.

I am ambivalent about who wins.  I will likely vote for the President.  I think he took a world, not a country that had already fallen off the cliff and thrashed around with it and we did not die.  I suspect that we likely needed to die.  I suspect that we need a global depression to bottom out and clear the dead wood and really rebuild.  But no one wants the pain, least of all me.  So we keep kicking the can down the road.  Whomever wins this election has my prayers and should have yours too.  We are a divided country of know nothing, know it alls who only listen to voices that reaffirm our ideas and no one is willing to say the hard truths which i think are as follows:
1.   We all have too high and unsustainable a life style which we developed treading on the most bounteous natural resources on earth and then piled on some bubbles of tech and real estate and cheap money.
2.  We live in the US in an economy where 70% of it is driven by consumerism rather than production an that is not a sustainable model.
3.  We have an entitlement society that has built up over the last 200 years pushing paying the debts off till tomorrow and whether we stop today, tomorrow or not at all that debt will eventually crush us.
4.   We will all have to work harder and longer to make less and retire later, if at all.
5.   We will have national Healthcare, hopefully like Canada and the service will be adequate for most of us and not cutting edge and not as personalized and in some cases substandard to what we had before.  It will not allow that millions be spent to keep anyones 90 year old parents alive.  That will suck.
6.   Social security will pay out half of what it does now if it survives at all.

But there is a second part to that.  We are America and while i do not buy in to "American Exceptionalism" (I think God made people, people) I do believe that we are an extraordinary people and extraordinarily blessed people.  We as a people need to stop whining, stop being afraid, stop suspecting that everyone is out to take our stuff.  We need to be more charitable.  Go to church, or Mosque or Synagogue more and worship God with our brothers and sisters and for those who are not religious, those of us who are need to pray for them and lead by our example.  We need to stand up and BE the greatest country on earth and we need to do it quietly, and humbly and then when we get our own house in order we need to see what we can do to help God's people in other countries.  But there is going to be pain and suffering and disappointment in the next four years if you base your happiness on money, things and status.

There will be more debates.  In town hall meetings I would love to see people demand the truth.  What exemptions will you cut Mr. Romney.  How will I keep my house without the mortgage exemption?  President Obama, the top 1% cant pay for everything so you need to tell me how much taxes are going to go up to support health care for everyone.  How much Mr. President and how can I trust you to do it after the last 4 years?  Mr. Romney, why do you think "trickle down" works when any of the "gains" you point to from that were clearly the product of unsustainable bubbles?  President Obama, why couldn't you embrace the hard truths of Simpson Bowles?

That is the shit I want to see.  Until then it is all background news, sound bites and bullshit.  We have a right to expect more from our candidates and our media.  OK... I am done.  Sorry for the rant.  Very annoyed.  I might be off my meds.  Go Cards!

Conundrum

Soooo... there is a little bit of fun with Newt winning South Carolina. Like coming home tonight and watching FOX news and seeing them hem and haw... They cannot embrace Newt but he is clearly what their base, at least in South Carolina are embracing. They reap what they so as they have encouraged distrust and fear and racism and now that Newt (who ain’t stupid) has embraced those themes, the FOX news world is marching...indeed dancing to his tune. The bigwigs at FOX, now the mainest of mainstream media had assumed that they could undermine Romney, question his loyalty to “conservative values” and then hold their nose as he want on to beat Satan...er...I mean Barack Obama. Now Newt trounced Mitt. Now the game is on but they do not know how it will end or even really who they want. I mean, Mitt is a pretender who will be whomever he needs to be buty he is certainly “electable”, “Presidential” and a “businessman”. Newt made friends with Bill Clinton. Newt made a deal on welfare reform. Newt was forced to resign as leader of the house in scandal. Newt is on his 3rd wife (though family values people are bravely embracing his “repentance”.

Even Glenn Beck does not like Newt. What a nightmare for them all. The establishment does not love Romney. But Newt, they hate Newt. They started to hate Newt 30 years ago. He did it the old fashioned way. He earned it. he alienated EVERYONE! And the Tea Party, what has become the biting, vicious unhappy backbone of the party, which has had their anger and fear coddled by the establishment of the party to unleash at will hates Romney! He is a weak, intellectual, Harvard rich boy who has never been in a real fight. They can’t stand him. When Newt said that he did not want to bloody Obama’s nose but to knock him out... he had them at “knock”. Both sides are wondering how they are going to justify staying in the party and rallying behind a candidate which they cannot stand.


I Miss This Guy!
So tonight I am watching the four Republican candidates and Paul and Santorum look like reasonable guys, regular guys and Gingrich and Romney spent the first 15 minutes bitch slapping each other like teen age girls. When have we seen petulance at this level. The moderators from “The Mainstream Media” seem to be guiding them back to attacking Obama and talking about our countries issues. What a sad display. Now Romney is talking about what the release of his taxes will be tomorrow. They all agree that the best recipe for jobs is that no one be forced to pay any taxes, ever...EVER! All taxes are bad. All government is bad... even though we are running to elected to run government...we will hate ourselves when we do it. Now Romney is making his “I am not going to apologize for success” speech. He is a self made man.

When I look at him he looks like a very successful man who started from a millionaires perch with the best education money could by and a name that certainly did not slam any doors. Santorum... as long as he does not talk about his trademark social issues like the light of reason and measured thought. Now Newt is talking about his contract with Freddy Mac. I read the contract. It does not say anything about what he is supposed to do. That is what stinks about it. That and the fact that he said he performed services as a historian.

I EVEN MISS THIS GUY!
Perhaps the Republicans need to reset the clock and reset the clock and look around. And Romney and Gingrich are once again slapping each other like little petulant girls. They lecture and hector each other. They shoot horses, don’t they? The 4 Horseman of the Apocrypha? Ok...it is 9:03 and I put in my hour watching these guys debate. I think I am done for this election.

Election Fatigue

It could happen to you, it could happen to me, it could happen to everyone eventually... But seriously. I never thought it would happen to me. I was really, really excited about this election. It was close, it was engaging... everything I could want our of an election. I loved it. It had a good guy (Obama), a bad girl (Hillary), a grumpy old man (Mc Cain), a high priest (Huckabee) and a born again Nazi (John Mc Cain). It was fun. I love our system and even with these absurdly early primaries making the season more absuder (legal term) it seemed like it would all be good.

I think I started to tire when I found out that John Mc Cain was a left leaning, pinko, gay marriage espousing, pro abortion, anti-life, probably gay himself, killer of small children, puppy maiming BASTARD! I had no idea. I thought he was just a smart but grumpy old man who had served his country well, been a prisoner of war, devoted himself to public service, refused the pork barrel earmarks and (in earlier elections) stood up to hate and intolerance. So it was distracting when my favorite comfort woman to the Nazi’s... Anne Coulter set me straight on John Mc Cain. I think that started to make me tired.
And then there was Super Tuesday. I was really thinking I would get some closure on the Obama/Clinton thing at Super Tuesday but... instead I get uncertainty and fear that we will go to the convention without being united. That there will be legal battles over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegates where Hillary won and Barack didn’t campaign. That there will be a convention decided by “Super Delegates” that no one voted for.

Now Romney has quit. That is a good thing because I really hated him (and I know that is irrational) and his rich guy (I put 35 million into my own campaign) pretty haired, I turned around the Olympics and a consulting company so I can run the country, attitude. Now everyone says Mc Cain will pick Huckabee as his VP but I do not see it. I hope he does not grab Johnny Depp before Obama thinks of it. God it is hard on me coming up with all the ideas for these guys.

And when I started to think about all that I really just became tired of the whole thing. I listened to all the analysts on Wednesday puffing and talking and... I just got tired. The local NPR station started it’s Valentine’s pledge drive this morning and I was grateful for the break in commentating. I think that I am afraid for the future and that makes me feel weak and sad. I do not have a lot of faith that anyone can save us from a long cold winter in our economy and I have fears of fascism and nationalism and a lot of other ism’s as we start through our Limbaugh and Coulter demagogues to find people to blame. I really am afraid of that so... I am taking a break from political blogging for a while and doing a strategic withdrawal until March or so. Certainly know one can object to that?

Change?

So... I watched the New Hampshire debates and I have got to say... I do not get it. Barack Obama has been talking a lot about change but I figured perhaps he had a job in the past that required making change. He was an agent of change... he was committed to change...change, change, change. Then he won Iowa and now Hilary likes change and even more oddly that rich guy Romney now claims to be all about change. Why this fascination with change?

So why this fascination with change? We are in a war in Iraq... our economy looks to be entering a period where it is in an absolute shambles but all these folks can talk about is...change? I like change. Every year or so I take a cigar box I have filled with pocket change and take it to a coinstar machine and take the money and go play poker with it. But I think of change as something homeless people are interested in, not the leaders of the free world.

Obama appears to have “invented” change much in the same was Al Gore invented the internet back in the 2000 race. Hilary says she has already worked hard for change and has made a lot change in the past. My question is ... where? As Senator you do not have to make change. The First Lady does not historically make change. Wife of the Governor of Arkansas does not make a lot of change (unless she is turning tricks on the side). Before that she worked at The Rose Law Firm doing Whitewater deals and even though I have been an attorney (not in Arkansas) for 20 years I have never made change in that position. So when has she made change? At Yale? Perhaps as a girl in Chicago she worked at Mc Donalds? Doubtful.

Edwards never made change in his life unless he got change back from his hairdresser.

Romney says he is an agent of change but when to rich guys deal with change at all? Don’t they have people to do that for them?

There is a great Southpark episode where the town is beset upon by homeless people who just wander around uttering one word as they hold out their hands..."change?" I would love to run the episode with the current candidates photo shopped in as these characters. That would make me laugh.

****
So seriously. Obama has tapped into something that has been tapped into a million times before. Most recently in the 2006 elections. When people are unhappy with the status quo they want... change. The fact that Obama was the only one who understood this prior to Iowa should give everyone pause. And Obama has done it with a lot of genius. He is a smart guy and whoever said that he is a canvas upon which all of us are painting our own hopes and dreams... Amen... it is true. People like me are hoping he is different, even praying he is different. Can he deliver real change? It is doubtful but from my perspective he has the best shot.

Hilary cannot be a change agent. She is married to her husbands connections and although Bill used them skillfully and to some extent kept them at arms length. Hilary has gotten into bed with them metaphorically if not actually. She is dead and does not even know it and we will learn a lot about her character watching how she handles this unceremonious dumping. She could do more for her party and the country by agreeing to be Vice President but I think those of us who find her dislikable (though very smart and competent) might be uncomfortable even with that.

How about Edwards? The rich plaintiff lawyer with the good hair has beaten Hilary in Iowa and is making a genuine run but where does that get him? Another vice presidential race probably does fly for him but there should be a cabinet post for this guy in some type of domestic do gooder position. How about head of education or even making him the immigration czar. He certainly will not be the nominee unless Obama shoots himself in the head which in our modern media age could always happen.

The funniest thing was watching Romney try and catch the newest tune that he just heard. This guy sold his soul in order to try and get George Bush’s base which worked so well for the Republicans in 2000 and 2004. That base is no longer there. Watching him grab the wrong issue (immigration...yawn...most of us don’t care) now trying to say he is a change agent because of his consulting company experience and his Olympic experience is... absurd at best. he is deader then a doornail and he does not even know it. KMc Cain of course nailed him on Face the Nation when asked about Romney now claiming to be the agent of change. Mc Cain said, “well he certainly has changed his own positions a lot, maybe that is what he meant.” Thats tough.

It is best with all of these guys to remember what Ben Stein said on TV this morning. The power for any President to make meaningful change in any of our lives is almost nil. If we want our lives to change and our country to change these guys are not going to do it for us. Ultimately that rests on you and me.

*****
One good note about New Hampshire is that Diners are getting great play on all the TV stations showing how the politicians work them. I am surprised that no one has contacted me so as to get some insight as to how to handle politicking in a diner. It has impressed upon me however a strong urge to head to New Hampshire. I was watching a place called Chez Vachon on CBS Morning news. Make me a reservation.

****
So... all of that having been said, where are we. Obama is going to win the the nomination and likely the whole thing. The more of Bush and the economy and the war that we get the more he becomes the guy who can only stop himself. Unexpectedly and by default John Mc Cain is going to be the Republican nominee. Huckabee, though i like him and admire his populist leanings is after all a Baptist minister and sooner or later every station will run a scene of religious conservatives praying (out loud for gosh sakes) for him on television and he will be dead. Might be a good VP though. Romney is dead but rich so he thrashes around for a while and then goes back to being a rich guy. Guliani...Guliani... he has this strategy (seriously that is what he calls it) to wait for Super Tuesday. The race will be long over by then and he will not have money for the TV that would be needed to compete. This guy has nothing to offer other then on 9-11 he happened to be Mayor of NYC. It is not enough to hide the fact that the guy in almost any context (marriage, politics, business) is an asshole. Enough said. Obama, Mc Cain. Not just in New Hampshire but all the way to end. Then I am taking Obama and giving the points.