No it's MY turn! Photo credit
Now, the first thing is this. I want to apologize to Mitt. I think I've been to hard on him. First, he says he is a job creator, and I have said he is not. Well, think of all the comedians he created last night? Mitt should be nicknamed Rom-Com. Sometimes I feel like Romney is on the edge of saying something decent, and then he just loses me. Contrary to popular belief, before last night, I wasn't totally sold on Obama. Not that I was voting for Romney, which means I was stuck with voting for Obama, but I was feeling blue (pun intended) about voting for BO. But after last night, after Roms made me feel creeped out and weird and Obama reminded me of why I voted for him in the first place, I kinda feel like yeah, I wanna vote FOR Obama not AGAINST Romney. I call that a win for Obama. Here's why:
Romney:
First, I can't understand why Romney isn't explanatory. This is like beating a dead horse, so I'm really not going to talk about it, but seriously, I'm not dumb. Can you at least PRETEND to treat me like an intelligent person?
Second, we can make all the jokes we want about binders full of women, but really...what is Romney's deal with being stuck in the 90s? (at least he could get a tablet full of women or something). No, but seriously, the number of things that rubbed me the wrong way with what he was saying are infinite. I don't understand. I don't want to be hired out of a binder, on the second round, to fill a quota, but have to leave by 5 to put on an apron and make pot roast for my family. (lest they all go out and buy AK-47s, but thats another issue altogether). The look on the face of the girl who asked the question pretty much says it all, just like "um, ok, whatever". Listen, I work in an environment where the dude/chick ratio is like 90/10 literally. I don't need Romney making it worse and undermining my talents.
Third, single parent households = assault rifles? I mean, I think I can kind of see the point Mitt wanted to make, but he really really failed. Maybe because he doesn't believe it? Or he isn't allowed to say it? I don't know. But the connection between stable households and violence is a lot more complicated than just marrying up all our kids. "Chicago too violent? No probs, just be rich and white, like me!" <--That's literally how I felt. Not that easy.
It's not that easy. You can't just "be rich" or just "get money" or whatever it is Mitt Romney wants me to do to fix my problems. It takes work and effort and time. And sometimes digging yourself out of a hole sucks, but when it sucks, giving up and going back to way you were doing it before isn't really logical.
And lastly, Romney was sort of annoying. I know that's not a solid reason to not vote for someone, but he was condescending and rude and frustrating. Candy Crowley is far from my favorite talking head, but she can stand up for herself, and after watching her struggle against Romney (and Obama, but we'll get to that) I'm a little more understanding of what Jim Lehrer was going through. When the moderator tells you to shut up, shut up. I mean, I watched his little 2 minute clock turn yellow, then red, then go away, and he wasn't even showing signs of wanting to stop talking. Cool it Romney, this is not playground arguing this is grown up arguing, we have rules.
Obama:
So, the economy. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm better off than I was four years ago, and why yes, yes I am. Four years ago I was 21, I had no or expensive health insurance, I had a mediocre job and was told my parents are rich enough to help me pay for school so deal. Today, I have a better, more secure job, it comes with health care (that I can wait to use because I'm not 26) and a good 401(k). Also, those pell grants Obama keeps talking about...used 'em. Couldn't afford college without it. (This "oh just ask your parents for money" thing Romney says...not really plausible. My parents are not wealthy car company executives and politicians, they could not pay for 4 kids to go to college out of their pockets). So economically speaking, it doesn't really make any sense for me to not vote for Obama. And I'm sure there is a 21 year old kid out there that is in the same place I was 4 years ago, that needs Obama to stay.
Libya. Oh Libya. I can't believe Obama, who killed Bin Laden...wait what did Obama do in Libya? Right, Obama did nothing. I mean, for better or worse, what did Obama do? Nothing. Why? Who knows. What's going on? I don't know. This was bothering me. Obama is supposed to be strong on foreign relations, and seemingly he blew it. Well, as I read into the story, and as the debate unfolded, I'm no less frustrated with the fact that our embassy was attacked. But I'm glad Obama was able to answer some questions. Here is what i came away with: 1) who cares if he knew it was (or labeled it) an act of terror or not? Either way, he did call it that, but I don't know why that matters so much. Somebody died. 2) Mitt politicized it, Obama wanted the facts and justice. Honestly, I'll take the facts and justice over politics. Like I said, I don't care if he told us it was terror or not terror. I don't care if he called it the boogey man. Find who did it, and put them to justice without starting a war. Obama already killed Bin Laden, and ended the war in Iraq, so his track record for being able to handle the Libya thing is good. If somebody wants to tell me (because democrats and republicans both seem to care) why it matters if he called it an act of terror (or terrorism, which are the same thing unless you're 12) or not the day it happened, please do, because....really who cares? What matters is justice and not starting more wars.
The real kicker for me though when Obama was talking though was Guns. I hate guns. That is an understatement. There is no word to describe how I feel about guns. If it were up to me, no private citizen would own a gun, ever. Because...why do you need one? That is not realistic, which is why I'm not in charge of your gun collection. After the gazillions (scientific, i know, but that's how it feels isn't it?) of mass killings in this country, it really bothers me that no politician can just forget about his political party and stand up and speak out against guns, or for gun control. And for someone who is so often "accused" of being "leftist" Obama is really quiet about gun control. And so it began, that person asked about the assault rifle ban, and I was literally ready to just give up and not vote and be done with it. Maybe move to Canada. So here are the key things I got from Obama:
~ Don't remind me that you didn't go to Wisconsin to console the victims in the Sikh Temple by saying Aurora was the most recent place you had to console anyone. Bad plan. That being said,
~Obama did say he doesn't think military grade weapons need to be in the hands of private citizens.
~Then he also went on to the part that really sold me. He did not insult my intelligence, but rather reminded me why I voted for him in the first place. He reminded us all that while banning all guns is the quick and dirty "solution", the actual the solution is getting to the root of the problem. Finding out why we have a culture of violence, ensuring every child has access to a good education. (I think education can solve so many problems: decrease abortion rates, decrease hate crimes, decrease discrimination, decrease violence, decrease unemployment, etc). Making sure criminals are getting guns, and making sure people with mental illnesses aren't getting guns. (sidenote, while its important that both of those categories don't have guns, it's important that those with mental illnesses aren't seen as criminals).
~I'll vote for him, but I'll know he won't really follow through with it. At least I'll know he won't give MORE people guns...which is what Romney will do.
So Obama sold me on the gun issue, sort of.
What Obama really did was sell me on his ability to lead. The quick and dirty solutions sound good when things are falling apart but the best thing to do is stop and think and create the best solution, even if it takes a little longer. If it will make things more stable and less likely to fall apart. I would rather spend 8 years building a brick house than 4 years building a straw house. And while Obama was also kind of rude, he actually was way less arrogant than he usually is, maybe because Romney was so so so arrogant. And Obama was smart enough not to stand in front of the time counter thing, I mean that's tiny but still, I couldn't see when he was out of time. So I was less annoyed. Small victories lead to big wins.
"They" are saying the win goes to Obama, but barely. "They" also say that style matters more than substance. Not only did Obama win decisively, he said to Mitt some of the things I wanted to say to Mitt. We saw Mitt get questions asked to him directly and he just completely ignored them, really? Come on, man. Maybe Obama did the same thing, but he didn't avoid the questions we (or at least I) really needed answered, and Mitt DID avoid the questions I needed answered to (though I couldn't vote for him) at least see why voting for him would be an option.
(I'm hitting publish without checking for typos, sorry).
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