It's been a disappointing election season. And I honestly feel, for the first time ever, that neither candidate was the best each party could have run.

My opinion of Barack Obama has lost it's shine since I lost my job. For someone who is celebrated at being able to communicate well, he is, frankly, a lousy communicator. There was a time for him to get up on stage and say "I believe in the ACA and this is why" and he let it slide, allowing the press to just tally up all the Tea Party's complaints.

I guess that's really my biggest complaint with Barack Obama. Things happen and he.. doesn't seem to react. Not until he's had a good, hard think about it. And when something DOES happen, like Benghzai, he misses his moment of leadership. Honestly, I think he was only ready to act in that role for Sandy because there was advance notice.

I don't blame Obama for the economy, though I would have REALLY appreciated it if he could have had the Fed explain to us why a slow recovery is better, since all the articles I've read suggests that this is the recovery the Fed WANTED. I do honestly believe that a government doesn't create private sector jobs, only government jobs. I don't blame Obama for the issues he had trying to get things through the Republican Congress, though he did play his share of politics.

If the Republicans had put up any serious contenders, I might have voted GOP this year. The economy and my job security is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO ME this election.

And who did the GOP end up picking? The Etch-A-Sketch. And that's really what Romney/Ryan was. Given that never either gave any DETAILS about this wonderful plan that will slash the deficit, be fiscally neutral, give extra money to the military and cure cancer, it became dubious, highly suspicious. Because either they didn't have details or, more likely, the details themselves were highly unpopular, like the Ryan budget, which also never had any details.

Romney is, in every way, a blank slate. He doesn't care to give you details about himself because thsy may damn him with another portion of the electorate. So you see in Mitt.. what you expect to see, what YOU put in.

I have no problem with Mitt as a populist, sitting in the middle where the average of his electorate sits, but I had a big problem with a Mitt who was both for and against abortion, who would overturn Obamacare, but not all of Obamacare. I just always got the sense that Mitt would say anything to keep people happy and then do... well, I have no idea what, at all.

This was my big year to vote third party. After all, my vote for President doesn't count at all. I might have voted Green party this year. Except Oklahoma didn't have anyone but Mitt and Obama on the ballot.

So.. I held my nose. I held my nose and hope to god that Obama will learn from his last four years and maybe try to be a little bit more in front of the curve in his next four years, though I doubt it. And I do honestly believe that if Obama gets elected, he won't accomplish anything at all. We are becoming a country of idealogues, with very few people left in the center willing to consider that both parties may be right and wrong. Since the Republicans are not losing Congress, as a whole, Obama will accomplish nothing, except possibly avoiding the fiscal cliff, though I doubt even that much. After all, the current jerks in the GOP might hold their nose and jump the fiscal cliff so they can blame Obama for the economy tanking again. That's the kind of politics our congress plays.

But in any case...
I hope 2016 is better. Because 2012 is a mess. A disaster. I don't feel good at all.

Bill Clinton, I think it was, once announced that his presidency would be the era of big government is over. He was wrong, of course. But it's a line that gets thrown out a great deal.

One could easily take the failed recall vote in Wisconsin as a sign that the Union Man just doesn't have the power he used to have. And I do think that's a good take home message, though I do feel the failed recall vote happened for more reasons than just that.

But when you look at the fiscal cliff we're driving off of, there is one universal truth that needs to be mentioned. We are spending far more money than we have. We all know what the politicians think about this, which is garbage. The GOP want to cut spending but not raise taxes. They want Austerity, but Austerity is destroying the European Economy and it's a reasonable argument that it could have the same effect here. The Democrats want to keep spending, but increase taxes on the very rich. This is utter nonsense as well, quite honestly.

What's missing from the debate is any semblance of subtlety, any hint that there are other options.

Which brings us to the unions, specifically the unions for the public service jobs: The Teachers Union, the FIremen Union, the Policemen Union, etc.

Let's be honest. Unions theoretically work to make things better for the people they represent, but Unions are fallible and over the years, Unions have made mistakes and decisions that added to the problems.

You could argue, as Scott Walker argued, that that's true in Wisconsin, that the civil servant unions have been part of the problem. I think he's right, to some extent. When things were good, I don't think there's any argument that we should be putting so many dollars into such and such a union's retirement fund, or that such and such a public sector jib needs this number of days off. But when things are bad, and they are, exactly what have the Unions done to say "We recognize that things are tough. Here, let's help you out."

Of course, the people that the unions represent are real people with real needs, financial and otherwise, but when things get bad we ALL need to shoulder the load, no matter who hires you. For most of us, when things get bad, we just consider ourselves lucky enough to keep our jobs, forget get additional leveraging power.

And that's really what was at the heart of Scott Walker's laws. The Unions still exist, but they're lives are just much closer to the rest of us. I read somewhere that in 2012, only 11% of workers in the United State belong to a union. The other 89% of us don't. When things get tough and we don't get the raise we hoped for, we don't strike. We don't walk out. We just thank gods we still have a job to call our own.

The union has been in decline for a long time. Maybe that's a bad thing. I'm sure some will say it is. But,..

When Walker instituted his rules, the Unions warned of of things going off track in Wisconsin, that taxes would need to be raised, etc. But that didn't happen, 16 months later. Walker found a way to tighten the budget and I guarantee you, others will follow.

And so I say, with no doubt I'm wrong, the End of the Era of the Big Union is over. Kaput. Gone.

Been thinking alot about my frustration with Obama and my issues with the fact that I strongly suspect he'll be the lesser of two evils come 2012.

I keep thinking back to the 2008 election. I've been a registered democrat since 1993. I've voted for Clinton, though I never fell in love with him. Gore, despite the fact that I thought the guy had less personality than a phone book, and Kerry, despite the fact that it frustrated me to no end that Kerry wouldn't at least call out the people throwing mud in his face for the pure LIES.

Then came this guy who not only spoke well, but assured us all that he could find common ground with the other side and work together with them to better America. In short, a president who might do some GOOD for this nation and might right some of the grievous wrongs done by his predecessor. He'd close down Guantanamo bay, end the war on terror and at least be able to have a CONVERSATION with the republicans on how we can actually BETTER this country.

( Cut here before the post gets too long )

So.. Arizona's immigration bill. Racist, Small-minded, idiotic, probably unconstitutional.

And I blame the Federal Government for it even existing at all, because if they'd done their job, Arizona wouldn't have had to step in to try to do it for them.

I've been wrapping my mind up around a thought that's been growing for a while, which is that the American Government no longer works.

I truly believe that when the framers wrote down their concept of checks and balances, they never expected blocs of senators all voting together against a president, activist judges and a whole host of people across both sides of the aisle who seem to think it's more important to get reelected for another term than to do what they're constituents may want them to do.

This is not, I think, how government is SUPPOSED to work. The system is broken.

Immigration has been an issue for years. One of many, but no one can come to a conclusion, no law can be made, so we'll punt it back for another few years. The number of issues that have been punted backwards, health care reform, education reform, social secutity, etc. etc. .. is disgusting, really, and makes you wonder.. what HAS our government achieved?

I don't blame the Republicans, solely. This is not a one-party problem. This is a Washington-wide problem.

K. I'm done. But still disgusted.

My wife and I watched the State of the Union last night. It lasted longer than I realized it would, so despite some vague interest in seeing what McDonnell would say in response, I have yet to see it.

I thought that the speech was well made, if a little long. I thought the president made the point that he HAD had a busy (and altogether pretty good) first year and had accomplished things that needed to be accomplished.

I thought it sounded like he understood why Americans were so disgusted and angry with the government, with the partisan bickering and how impossible it is to fix the issues we ALL deal with, such as health care, jobs, etc.

I thought some of the jabs that were made were appropriate, especially the one about the RNC's lack of leadership.

I realize that the State of the Union is just Obama setting his agenda for the next year. It's a good agenda. I'd love to believe that I think he'd get'er done, but that depends on him putting on a better performance OFF The podium and the Senate actually working together to do what's right for America. Only one of those two seems likely...

Still, it was a good speech. I just wish he hadn't made so long to get up in front of a podium and say some of the things that needed to be said.

It's funny. I remember when people cheered "OMG, 60 democratic senators! We can do anything now!"

Ha.

You know, I'm not a liberal. Not a Capital L liberal.

But I have to agree with Howard Dean. The current bill is crap. It needs to be killed.

As I understood it, the point to Health Insurance was to help the millions of people who can't afford to buy health care. The current bill doesn't accomplish that. It gives us a mandatory mandate that everyone get health insurance, which WON'T lower costs long term because there's nothing in the bill that stops HMOs from overcharging or giving bad service.

In short, there is no real REFORM int he health care reform bill. Instead those people healthy enough to skip health insurance are being punished.*

What a crock. What a piece of shit.

Even 59 democratic senators if you don't count Joe "Benedict Arnold" Lieberman, and you really can't and this piece of shit was the best we could do?

Harry Reid needs to be fired. His job is, like Pelosi's to get 'er done. He isn't. Instead we sat there sidelines by Lieberman's demands and caving in.

To Obama, to Harry Reid, to the Congress as a whole.. get with it. Do you want to pass health reform or do you hope to maybe nickle and dime it. It's a LITTLE better now than it was, so that's OK. And then in 70 more years, it'll be a LITTLE better then that it is now. Oh wow, aren't these idiots we elected doing a great job?

No.

To Harry Reid, to the Democrats, to Obama.. please stand up for what's RIGHT and not what Joe Lieberman and the obstructionists are demanding you do. You KNOW what's right. You know what we need. That bill is not it.

*the current bill mandates that everyone get health insurance while allow the health insurance company to charge you 50% more if you have a pre-existing conditions. So that means if you have a pre-existing condition, you may not be able to afford health care, but you damn well had better get it or the Feds will ding you!