Romney, Finally ! …… Obama, Loser !

In last night’s Presidential debate, Mitt Romney triumphed  …. over the liberal press !

For the first time in this race the American electorate got to see and hear the GOP candidate directly and unfiltered on the issues in real time exchanges with Obama without all of the carping, bashing, innuendo, distortions and outright lies of the liberal press and Obama campaign. And the verdict? A resounding debate victory for Romney. Even the Democrats said so!

Polling of undecided voters declared Romney indeed was viable as a candidate, Presidential in bearing and his ‘solutions” deserving of another “look”.

Democrats and liberal press meanwhile looked on stunned and in disarray during and after the debate over Obama’s poor performance.   

Immediately, Obama supporters and pundits began attacking their own candidate (CNBC's Chris Matthews was apoplectic in his rebuke of Obama) and flailing about for explanations no matter how absurd: the difference in altitude between Washington DC and Denver; Obama was distracted by his Anniversary, the insular Beltway Bubble; the incumbent debate curse; ad nauseum until finally there was remaining only grudging consensus on one truly inescapable conclusion for every viewer - Obama was not in command of the facts, and he was unprepared for this debate.

But as his detractors have said all along Obama was unprepared for his “role” as President fully five years ago.

If it were not for all of the sheltered safe harbor, mis-direction and blocking interference run by the liberal press throughout the Obama administration and his 2008, and 2012 campaigns, Obama’s incompetence and failures as a leader would have been more universally understood and acknowledged long before last night.

Last night by virtue of their absence on the stage supporting Obama’s elbow clearly emphasized just how much the liberal press have “spoken” for Obama throughout. Obama having to think on his own during the debate left Bill Maher quipping “Obama looks like he DOES need a teleprompter!”.

And it’s not as though there hasn’t been enough in print to illustrate Obama’s character flaws by those close to him:  assertions that Obama’s petulance means we’re “truly home alone” with no adult in charge of the administration;  that Obama prefers to remain aloof and to one side side  of the room while disparaging everyone else; that others in his administration rely on Pelosi and Reid for direction; that he believes everyone else is his intellectual inferior and to disagree with Obama only reveals your own bigotry. Hardly the personal traits that foster collaboration and cooperation with others.

Washington is at an impasse. Partisanship has trumped compromise. And Obama, with his partisan hacks, Pelosi and Reid, shoulders the largest part of the blame.

Disingenuously Obama repeated again last night that he doesn’t care where a good idea comes from (Republicans) but as he’s so often demonstrated a “good” idea is only the one that advances Obama and his agenda. In contrast Romney who said he would work with both parties to get “the job done” was all the more convincing because he has a successful record of having actually done it.

As the candidates themselves summarized in their last 3 minutes the hallmarks for their approaches for the next 4 years differed hugely and can be distilled to: Romney, Collaboration and Cooperation … Obama, more Divisiveness and Polarization.

Obama promises more in the future of the same of the last 4 years resulting in the same outcomes – failure for America.

It’s time to hand Obama his walking papers and put Romney to work!

Keeping It In Perspective

By all accounts Australia is a country that in the Northern Hemisphere doesn't get a lot of press - however more than 22.7 million men, women, and children call it home - and no doubt with earnest affection and pride.

In the United States there are in the broadest sense, 23 million unemployed Americans - more than every soul presently living in Australia! Imagine that - 23 million Americans who either can't find work, gave up looking for work completely or took jobs they didn't want just for the sake of having some work to do and a chance to earn a little meager income. Why, if the Australians weren't already there, we could just swoop down and fill up their country with unemployed Americans without missing a beat!

Or, if you prefer, imagine the entire population of Ireland, Norway, Finland, Denmark and about half of Switzerland (it's okay, the Swiss are used to being divied up against other national interests, anyway) just sitting around watching TV and you arrive at the same dismal result - there are a helluva lot of unemployed Americans in this country. Pretty much more unemployed people here in the US than those who live in most other countries.

Yeah, Okay, and now the quibbling begins over the numbers. What we're talking about here are the BROADEST measures of unemployment and misery - not the questionable US official estimates of narrowly defined unemployment. 

But even so, those "official" US numbers (U-3) are 12.8 million unemployed. And the federal government will concede that the "marginally unattached" (U-5), bureaucratic officialese meaning those who would like to work but haven't looked recently and then also those who gave up looking for work completely (U-4), should be added into the total - after all the Dept. of Labor goes to the trouble of tracking them in U-5 and U-4 categories. That bumps up the official numbers to 15.3 million unemployed.

Then we have all those 8.2 million part-time "statistical miscreants". What to do with them? What to do, what to do? Well, how many people do you know who are making it through on part-time wages? Seems like we pretty much need to count them also. And there you have it - better than 23.5 million (U-6) out of work and, or unhappily economically engaged Americans.

But wait, if we use the "official" U-6 unemployment rate of 15% and the "official" 23.5 million unemployed number that means there is an "officially mathematically derived" total workforce number of 156.7 million Americans. Uh, the official, "official" number of workforce age Americans is 239.6 million Americans among a total US population of 311.6 million people. What's going on here? Shouldn't the workforce numbers be the same or at least close? Could it be that the total unemployed population in America is really 46.7 million people? Look Out Spain , here we come! Just Kidding. No really, just kidding, Spain - we couldn't possibly have that many people looking for work, but the statistics are, you know, just so arcane, or there are a boatload from the workforce dying everyday, or ....???

At the Republican National Convention in Tampa, guest speaker, Clint Eastwood said last evening, " -- and I haven't cried that hard since I found out that there (are) 23 million unemployed people in this country. Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven't done enough, obviously -- this administration hasn't done enough to cure that.  Whatever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem."

And who are the principal architects of this ongoing train wreck of a national calamity? This is one time I can honestly step up and cast a vote for: Barack Obama .... and Nancy Pelosi .... and Harry Reid !