By any measure available this nation of ours has had a rough decade. The 2000’s started with a presidential election being decided by the Supreme Court, moved to the attacks of 9/11, wars in Afghanistan (which was widely supported), to the war in Iraq that was unsupported by the majority of Americans and by many of our longtime allies. We had hurricane Katrina, Irene, massive history making snowstorms in the North East, gas prices going over $4.00 a gallon in country used to $1.50 per gallon.
As the first decade in the new millennium ended we had a economic meltdown (globally and domestically) not seen since the Great Depression. Housing values plummeted as the tab for buying a million dollar house when we only made $50,000 a year came due. Jobs were lost all over the country, banks closed and the auto industry was on the thin edge of a complete collapse.
Into this mess America’s first black President with his message of “Hope and Change” and everyone seemed to breath a bit better and the optimism of the country almost turned around in a single night. It was a very nice couple of weeks. We then watched the stimulus battle, the auto bailouts, death panels, birthers, a Tea Party revolution that promised us more “change” in Washington but after 2 years in power nothing has changed.
So here we are, election around the corner and two candidates telling us they can fix it they have the answers just vote for them and it’s rainbows and puppies for all. Who do we believe?
I’m reminded of a story I heard about a who drunk fell in a hole and couldn’t get out. A businessman went by. The drunk called out for help. The businessman threw him some money and told him get yourself a ladder. But the drunk could not find a ladder in this hole he was in.
A doctor walked by. The drunk said, “Help, I can’t get out.” The doctor gave him drugs and said, “Take this, it will relieve the pain.” The drunk said thanks, but when the pills ran out, he was still in the hole.
A renowned psychiatrist rode by and heard the drunks cries for help. He stopped and said, “How did you get there? Were you born there? Were you put there by your parents? Tell me about yourself, it will alleviate your sense of loneliness.” So the drunk talked with him for an hour, then the psychiatrist had to leave, but he said he’d be back next week. The drunk thanked him, but he was still in his hole.
A priest came by and the drunk called for help. The priest gave him a Bible and said I’ll say a prayer for you. He got down on his knees and prayed for the drunk, then left. The drunk was very grateful, he read the Bible, but he was still stuck in that hole.
A recovering alcoholic happened to be passing by. The drunk cried out, “Hey, help me, I’m stuck in this hole.” Right away, the recovering alcoholic jumped in the hole with him. The drunk said, “What are you doing? Now we’re both stuck here.” But the recovering alcoholic said, “It’s okay, I’ve been here before, I know how to get out.”
We are in a hole America and we truly have no one to blame but ourselves. So when you’re in a hole who do you want to help you out? Do you want a President who was born into a life of privilege and wealth? Who has never truly struggled his entire life? Has no idea what it means to be poor, or an outsider? Has Romney ever gone to pick out new clothes at GoodWill or Salvation Army store? Done his school shopping from yard sales, or had to wear clothes a size to large or a size to small? Does he know whats it like to be down on your luck and need help?
Romney was born to a life of privilege, there is no argument there. Now to be fair, he has made the most of that privilege and didn’t squander it on gold cars and airplanes. It’s not his fault that he truly doesn’t understand what it means to work 65 hours a week with no over time because if you don’t’ you might lose your job and you have a family to support. Being born rich and white is about as lucky as you can get in this country and the only obstacle for someone like that is themselves.
Romney by all accounts is a moral man and I don’t doubt that. However, I worry that when he sees the deficit and the need to cut the budget he doesn’t see people behind those numbers he just sees numbers. Cutting a few million to Pell grants might seem like nothing but thats hundreds of American kids not going
to college because of that.
Obama on the other hand is about as middle class as it comes. I believe he understands what it means to struggle, to overcome. Can you imagine being a mixed race child in the 80’s being raised by white grandparents? As a white man, a child of the 80’s, I know we were not kind to the kids of such a union. We didn’t know better, our parents hadn’t taught us any better. But he overcame the hatred and racism. He worked his ass off to get into Harvard and become the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a state senator before becoming a U.S. Senator, working his way up from the bottom of the political ladder to the highest rung possible.
Through all the garbage and all the obstacles that must have been in his way, he made it, he is President. It’s truly an amazing story no matter what side of the political spectrum you are on.
So who is more capable who best understands what it means to be in a hole and how best to get out? Someone who has had all the good things in life handed to him on platter, or someone who (like most people) has had to work every single day to get what he has? I’ve been in the tank for Obama since his DNC speech in 2004, I feel his empathy and I believe when he says he thinks the middle class carries us all and we need to build from the middle out.
The country is moving out of the hole, things are getting better. Who best to help us all the way out of the hole? Someone who has been there or the man on the outside with his clean hands and pressed suit? Whose with me?