That’s not the issue.

Pollster.comis now saying Ohio has moved from “tossup” to “lean Obama”. Slate has a great flash map that shows the current status of every state. To sum up, our boy Obama is doing pretty well for himself.

What amazes me is how many formerly red states are changing to “tossup” or “lean Obama”. Colorado and New Mexico are leaning blue and the polls indicate Obama has a fighting chance in Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia, and Indiana. This is quite a change and I think we have the economic crisis to thank.

I haven’t been hearing much about abortion or gay rights or flag burning lately. Ditto for affirmative action or welfare. I’ve been watching Grandpa and Caribou Barbie (apologies to Stephanie Miller) flog the same tired “Obama palls around with terrorists. Obama wants to lose the war. Obama is a black guy.”

Here’s the thing; Bill Clinton was right – it is the economy, stupid. That’s the first, last, and middle issue. Nothing clarifies the matter like an economic meltdown. We’ve had a luxury in this country for the last 30 years. We really haven’t had many major recessions. There was one in 1991-92 and look what what happend to George H.W. Bush —> gone. See ya. Wouldn’t wanna be ya. 

With all this (relative) economic peace*, people have allowed themselves to be confused about what the issues actually are. The GOP teamed up with the Fundies to hide their pro-business, screw-the-worker agenda. And it worked for a very long time. 2004 was a fine example of that. For 30 years, God, Guns ‘n Gays have been the only issues.

Now it’s turned back to cash, check or charge. People are scared and pissed off. 401(k)’s are destroyed, home equity is gone, unemployment is rising. No one cares about creationism, they have to worry about making their next house payment or credit card payment, both of which will be ballooning in the coming months thanks to some very pro-business legislation.

You know what I have to say? Thank God. It’s about freaking time. People complain that Washington was asleep at the switch while this mess was brewing. Well, the electorate was as well.

 

*I don’t actually think the past 30 years have been good economically, but that’s the subject of another post.

 

The founding…mothers? Whatever…man.

OK, I stole the title of this post from “America – The Book”. Give credit where it’s due.

Brief sidebar: Lately the best place for news analysis are the various fake news outlets. The Onion, Daily Show, Colbert. I dunno. Says something sad about the news media.

Anyway, I am going to jump into the icy waters of gender politics for a second. Yes, gentle readers I am the possessor of a Y chromosome so I realize this journey is fraught with peril, but here goes.

Are we past due for a woman president? Categorically, yes. No question at all in my mind. However, this is not a political issue. This is merely a statement about the woeful prejudices of my countrypeople. I am skeptical that prejudices can be changed. Having a woman president isn’t going to make people any less misogynistic, than say, passing the Civil Rights Act made people less racist.

My bottom line: voting for Hillary because it’s time for a woman president, is ridiculous. It’s not an ‘issue’. Gender is not an issue, and no Ms. Clinton, the boys aren’t picking on you because you’re a girl.

Are you really trying to tell me that this country is more sexist than racist? That the media is giving a black man a pass so they can gang up on a white woman? I’m asking you to really think about that.

The only issues are the issues. The actual, real, nuts-and-bolts, economic, foreign policy, trade issues. Anything that doesn’t directly have to do with that is a smokescreen. (for further discussion, I refer you to Michael Lind’s “The Next American Revolution”)

For a generation now, we’ve been told that abortion, affirmative action, gun control, these are issues. In that time corporate power has gone completely unchecked. Labor unions have been smashed, banking deregulated, power deregulated, mergers, the revolving door between K street and congress, massive debt, a housing crises, credit crises, health care crises, CEO pay is at astronomical levels….need I go on?

These are the only things we should be concerned with. Anything else is a diversion, including gender of the Occupant of the White House.