Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Everyone is tired of this petty nonsense.

I am pleased to see that despite the terrified wails of the 24 hours pundits and an aghast Hillary Clinton, Obama's "bitter" comment does not seem to be gaining any traction. It is my opinion that people are simply tired of getting nothing from Washington but petty games and posturing, as well as a generous program of emptying the taxpayer's dollars into their pockets and the pockets of their pals on Wall Street, in the oil fields and in the weapons business.

We've got serious problems that must be dealt with. The cost of energy is at an all time high, the value of the dollar is at an all time low, and our national infrastructure is crumbling in front of our eyes at a time when we should be preparing for the punishment of extreme weather and violent storms.

The divisive politics and fear-mongering of the past are not going to cut it. United we must stand or divided we will fall!

It looks like the folks in Indiana and Pennsylvania are beginning to see it that way as well:

A Quinnipiac University poll gave Clinton a 50 percent to 44 percent edge over Barack Obama -- the same margin as a week ago -- and pollsters said there was no appreciable dip for Obama after his comments about blue-collar workers surfaced Friday.

A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll also shows trouble for Clinton in all three states with primaries in coming weeks, posing a challenge for her to rack up enough delegates and popular votes to break Obama's hold on the lead.

*snip*

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said Obama's remarks were "very much top of mind for most voters," and that in the coming days, voters will begin to fully assess his comments. "No one likes to be condescended to," he said. "This is an important issue and one that we are hearing a lot about across the state."

Yet for Jerry Rutan, 57, a coal miner who lives in Waynesburg, Pa., a town of 5,000 people, Obama's comments don't matter at all. "He's like we are; he's down to earth. He came up from the bottom. They are more elitist than he will ever be," said Rutan, referring to Clinton and Republican John McCain.

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Jerry's got a heck of a point!

John McCain has certainly earned his position of national stature through his own achievements as a war hero and a legislator, but the fact is that his grandfather and father were both four star admirals - undoubtedly providing young John McCain with a life of unique opportunities and special privileges. He is currently ranked as the 9th most wealthy among the 535 members of Congress and is married to a beer distribution heiress with assets valued somewhere between $36 million and $100 million.

Hillary Clinton is a Yale Law grad who sat on the board of Wal-Mart as a corporate lawyer for many years, and for the last 25 years has been living a life of American royalty as either first lady to a governor, as the wife of a U.S. president or as a United States Senator. In the past eight years she and Bill earned a $109 million together, putting them "in the top one-hundredth of 1 percent, or roughly 14,500, of all taxpayers".

Nothing is wrong with any of those accomplishsments, but its hard to imagine either John McCain or Hillary Clinton having any idea what it means to struggle for anything except credibility with the American voters.

In contrast, Barack Obama is the child of a single mother raised in part by his grandparents who went to school on a scholarship and was a community organizer making $12,000 a year before becoming a law professor, lawyer and state senator. He was still paying off his student loans five years ago.

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