"It's the Economy, Stupid!!"

Years ago when President Bill Clinton was campaigning against President George Bush sr., this was the catch phrase of his campaign, “It’s the Economy, stupid!” Well fast forward sixteen years and it constantly befuddles me how come none of the campaigns have seen it fit to focus on the economy. I mean with Lehman Brothers, Merril Lynch and AIG all recording major trouble in the same week, where is the rally call…”It’s the economy, stupid?” I have heard about a bridge to nowhere, championing voting rights in congress and lies in the media, but no one has clued into, …”It’s the economy, stupid!”

On the street where I live, the man across the road, the lady beside him and my neighbor directly beside me have all lost their jobs over the last year. Certainly they were able to get jobs again but I’m almost sure their rate of pay and not to mention their tenure has suffered …”It’s the economy, stupid!” There were two houses on this street that recently sold after being on the market for over a year and a half and when they did sell they went for almost twenty per cent below asking price…”It’s the economy, stupid!” I was speaking to a friend of mine who was having a migraine headache and when I enquired why she did not go to the doctor, she told me that she had a choice of making the doctors co-payment or putting gas in her car so she was taking Tylenol instead…”It’s the economy, stupid!” My sister in law in the medical field speaks of getting less hours on the job because people have to make co-payment choices, my sister speaks of massive layoffs in her sector …”It’s the economy, stupid!” Can anyone hear me?

A lot of people on the top of the food chain think of the economy as some airy fairy, pie in the sky concept that that is to be tracked by statistics and graphs. No it is not! It is a bread and butter issue that affects the way how people feed their children. How can I expect a man whose wife’s outfit cost more than most people’s house to understand this predicament? How can I expect the first term governor in her second year of office, from an oil rich state with a population barely higher than that of the county I live in, to catch my drift? Does the regular guy from ordinary circumstances who worked his way to the top comprehend this plight? I don’t know but November is coming and these issues need to be addressed, shucks they could once again become a rally call…”It’s the economy, stupid!” Selah.