Enough About Sarah Palin... What About ME?

Enough about Sarah Palin. We've let John McCain divert us from the issues about which voters really care. This election isn't about whether Palin opposed the "bridge to nowhere," or whether she loves guns, thinks we should drill in Alaska, or opposes reproductive choice for women. It certainly isn't about her pregnant daughter, her hair, or who will play her in the movie version of election 2008. She's John McCain's running mate. Her opinions on the issues are the same as his, and he has already told us that he wants to overturn Roe. v. Wade, that we should drill everywhere on American soil we can, that he is against any restrictions on gun ownership, and that he will appoint conservative Supreme Court justices. John Paul Stevens is eighty-eight years old. Are we really worried that McCain is going to die before Stevens retires and that Palin will appoint someone worse than McCain will?

We need to turn the focus back onto the issues that really matter. This election isn't about Sarah Palin -- it's about me. And you. Will the sub-prime housing crisis deplete the value of our parents' retirements accounts? Will we lose our homes? How will we find a job if we don't have one or keep ours if we do? Will we be able to afford our prescriptions, medical care for our children, gasoline? How will we pay for college for our children? How do we regain our moral standing with the rest of the world? We do this by electing Barack Obama.

If the election were about which party has played the game the best, the Republicans would win hands down. They've made us pay more attention to Sarah Palin's fashion sense than to rising unemployment, escalating health care costs and a federal budget deficit in excess of $9.5 trillion dollars. We laughed about McCain's VP pick, but now we see the genius of it. She's much more interesting than either McCain or Obama, but contrary to the press coverage, she isn't running for president. If we continue to let ourselves be distracted by the Republicans' antics, we can look forward to unaffordable health care, further cuts in government services, and more of us lost in the economic cracks. So let's stop hanging on her every word and giving her the lion's share of the headlines. As Bill Clinton famously said, it's the economy, stupid.

The econo-me.

Comments

[Mariel]

About me? Well, about me: I am a "middle class" person who, by CNN reckoning, will pay six thousand dollars more in taxes per year under Obama than I do under McCain. My son, who makes over $l25,000 a year, will only pay about $3,000 more per year. Deductions for my disabling illness treatments will help cut the tax bill, but I still won't be able to buy ANY clothes, as I have not for two years, any books or movies or contributions to charity. I will be gradually using up my savings, so I will be out of savings in about two more years. Paying six thousand more per year will mean that I'll use up my savings faster, and be unable to buy vitamins or gasoline in about a year and a third rather than two years.

I am too old to have a child or an abortion, so if it's about me, that isn't an issue. I have no kids likely to go to Iraq, so that isn't about me. No education to worry about--I got my graduate degree many years ago. I became disabled 20 years ago. I can't go get another job, and my husband is also disabled. We do have good medical coverage from our many years of work, so that isn't about me.

But my tax bill IS about me.

[Jackie Fuchs - Huffpost Blogger]

Mariel, I'm not sure what CNN reckoning you're referring to. Anderson Cooper's blog from earlier this week, based on a report from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, states that Obama's plan would reduce taxes for all except high-income tax papers. CNN Money showed this in more graphic terms back in June -- http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/candidates_taxproposals_tpc/index.htm -- as under Obama's plan only tax payers earning more than $227,000/year would see an increase in their taxes.

[sloreader]

Democrats and the media need to realize there is not much there there and stop focusing on Sarah McBush. The political corruption she supposedly "reformed" as the Governor of Alaska is the result of decades of Republican domination. She may talk a good game but my elders taught me it is never a good idea to let a fox guard the proverbial hen house.

[pr0metheus]

Indeed.