"I’ll take the politician with wisdom, common sense, leadership abilities and executive experience who may not speak quite as well as a great orator … Leigh Hart

Ha!  Sam Ervin comes to my mind.  In fact, his ‘down home’ Southern drawl and folksy manner was the reason I stayed tuned in on the Senate Watergate Hearings in 1973. 

Deber,

Bravo! You have my attention.

I admire you for directly addressing the questions raised by Belinda.  In all seriousness, do you think if McCain was in office rather than Obama that he would have "… addressed the recession and unemployment from an entirely differnt approach …" such that our economy would be stabilized and unemployment lower after one year in office?  Incidentally, on healthcare reform, I suspect McCain would have taken an entirely different approach.

The interview with Oprah was … incredulous.

Allessandra Stanley wrote a supurb critique in the NYTimes.com yesterday, which sum up Palin’s ‘performance’ on Oprah … including her rant about the Katie Couric interview. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/arts/television/17watch.html?_r=2&hp

My father [and most of his brothers] was blue collar, and thrilled to have achieved the status as a floor foreman for a large HONEYWELL manufacturing plant in Philadelphia.  Like many men who were WWII veterans, he took advantage of the GI Bill which allowed him post-war training for his position.  And, he was able to purchase a starter home, and later a large home which he paid off in seven years.  He did not believe in credit, yet was able to save and provide us with nice cars, and a very comfortable lifestyle.  Also, my eldest brother and his peers all had after school, weekend, and summer jobs; hired by area merchants and business owners.  I never heard the term ‘unemployment’ in our neighborhood.  Also, like my mom, most of the moms in our community were homemakers who met us at the school yard when school let out for lunch. They were able to do this because their husbands earned enough to support their families.  Granted, we did not have luxuries such as an automatic washer - until 1962.  Yet, we felt secure and certainly not deprived of our needs.

Of course the years of a one income male-head household is long gone.  However, especially at this time in our history, I can not think of a more urgent issue than the importance of job opportunities which allows individuals affordability to live with a minimal level of comfort.  Isnt’ this the our right, and the American promise?

Thank you for commenting.  

Yes.  Of course you are correct.  There is no doubt that America’s status as the leader in [higher] education is slipping … in a climate where learning for ’dummies’ has become en vouge.  In particular, career fields in science, medicine, and technolgoy are now being filled by foreign born applicants.  Just go to a high tech lab, or to a speciality hospital and you’ll see doctors of Asian [India, China, etc.] and East European decent.  My [current] neurlogist is Chinese.  And, a friend who is a research specialist at NIH, told me that her staff is predominantly, foreign born. 

S.J., quality  eduation is a HUGE concern.  College education in this country costs far too much, for students to be ill prepared for careers.  And if it the quality of education is not addressed, the future stability of our country is at stake.  However, America has always thrived from the ingenuity of the enterprenurial spirit, whereby small businesses flourished providing opportunities for both skilled and unskilled workers who in turn were able to earn a living.  I don’t know about you.  But, I want to see a return and revival of vibrant ‘small town’ America where  a baker, an accessory boutique, and any service-oriented business can thrive rather than the WALMART-like warehouses, which hovers over our small towns and cities like sinister polluted fog. 

This is the reason that job creation to fit the needs of today, must be achieved … similar in manner to the era of industrial boom when American citizens flocked to urban areas for factory/manufacturing/labor jobs, which created a working-middle class who could afford to purchase homes and send their children to college.  And, like past leaders [FDR] who recognized the urgency for social programs that provided the ‘average man’ with job opportunities, our politicians need to recognize that investment must be made developing a new technological infrastructure that will generate the mechanism for entrepreneurial job creation, and social-economic stability.  This is the reason I don’t support polititians who oppose legistlation for green energy.  Surely, training programs to meet demands for today’s jobs should be a high priority issue for our elected officials. However, this cannot be achieve until we reinvest in education that prepares all Americans for job opportunities.  After all, how can we ‘sell’ education to students if an American college diploma has diminished in value?  

"We need as much effort as they are focusing healthcare put on job creation." - Frannie Em

Excellent post! AMERICANS NEED JOBS!

*Ditto:

Frannie are ‘right on’ about outsourcing by big business, and the impact it has had on job lost in this country.  And it’s not just the labor intense manufacturing jobs that’s affected.    My eldest son tells me that he worries because he’s noticed that even high tech IT positons are now outsourced, including computer programmers, analyst, and software engineers.  In fact, in a recent email from my brother [an executive at Microchip], he echoed the same concerns as my son.

He wrote:

"I could write a book on what outsourcing and offshoring has done to our [semiconductor] industry.  Much of our industry’s manufacturing is outsourced and offshored.  So many industries; financial, pharmaceutical, health, etc have transitioned to [significantly] less expensive technical outsource companies.  With countries like India and China graduating top notch engineers 50 and 100 times [respectively] the rate as in the USA, coupled with the reduced wage/insurance requirement, significant cost reductionand liability is realized.

And when we discussed health-care reform recently, my brother wrote:

 "Its just a matter of time before the insurance companies start sending us abroad for cheaper medical procedures.  I guy at work had a double bypass, his billing thus far without the doctor’s fees amount to over $300K.  Imagine an insurer flying you to another country to have the same operation for only $15K!  Its going to happen…just like generic prescriptions."

In this sense, the real war on terrorism is abstract … because certainly,  America’s future depends on the revival of decent jobs. 

Hello Sherrie,

You and Frannie are ‘right on’ about the problem of outsourcing by big business, and the impact it has had on job lost in this country.  And it’s not just the labor intense manufacturing jobs that’s affected.    My eldest son tells me that he worries because he’s noticed that even high tech IT positons are now outsourced, including computer programmers, analyst, and software engineers.  In fact, in a recent email from my brother [an executive at Microchip], he echoed the same concerns as my son.

He wrote:

"I could write a book on what outsourcing and offshoring has done to our [semiconductor] industry.  Much of our industry’s manufacturing is outsourced and offshored.  So many industries; financial, pharmaceutical, health, etc have transitioned to [significantly] less expensive technical outsource companies.  With countries like India and China graduating top notch engineers 50 and 100 times [respectively] the rate as in the USA, coupled with the reduced wage/insurance requirement, significant cost reductionand liability is realized.

*Phyllis, my apology for misspelling your name.

phillis,

Bravo. Excellent post!

Frannie Em, 

Opps!  I meant to push PREVIEW to edit.  I rambled in the above post. 

I wanted to say that like you, I’ve always belonged to the Independent Party because I hate labels, and I lean far right on many issue and far left on others.  Obama was not my first choice.  Yet, I made the decision to vote for Obama when McCain brought Palin on to the ticket.  Now, I simply want to support his presidency.  Yet,  I’m tired of partisan politics,  and I’m tired of the rhetoric, which nurtures divisiveness.  I’m tired of the political machine of lobbyists and special interests, which serve big business at the expense of American taxpayers.  In my rambled dialogue of my previous post, I only mean that I fear for our system of government and the demise of the ideologies that our founding fathers intended.  Because at the end of the day … I worry that our government has become tainted by a complex political structure, which is [in essence] capitulated into the hands of power brokers.   

Frannie Em,

When I read your post, I am reminded [allegorically] of several stories about individuals who purchase grand old historic mansions/buildings to renovate and rebuild to use as a private a residence, inn, or B&B [bed and breakfast].  In each circumstance the desire is to restore the property to its original splendor and grandeur, and to enjoy the esthetic quality and beauty of rennovated property.  Yet the challenge becomes daunting.   Because the older the property … the more damage, and consequently the more costly it is to rebuild.  Often, these bastions of far gone golden eras are decayed and rotted such that gutting is required to bring them back to life.  And, installation of new structural foundations, inside and out, are necessage to meet modern needs/specifications.  Worse of all, in some instances when the damage is too sever, the tough decision is made to demolish completely and rebuild anew.

Like the grand old mansions of a far gone era, our nation was built on a solid foundation - democratic ideals and individual freedom, spun from Judeo Christian ethics where hard work was rewarded in a system of sound capitalist principals to insure prosperity for any who sought it.  Yet, that foundation -the core of our government, like in the grand old mansions, has also deteriorated … battered by the consequences [and corruption] of time.  What happened?  Divisiveness seems to have borne a price tag for resurrection, which now seems unfathomable.

Frannie, you touched on a number of issues, which raises philosophical questions.  How do we rebuild our country embracing the stellar principles upon which it was founded?  How do we restore dignity to the moral of our people such that patriotism is [first and foremost] pride in our system of government, and also trust and confidence in our elected officials?  If ‘business as usual’ in Washington is the debris of a burgeoning inept system of government, which has rotted to its core … then how DO we stop it? 

The most difficult question of all, is our ‘house’ repairable’?  Can we revive our country to a status of economic productivity that allows all citizens access to the elusive ‘pursuit of happiness’ in the manner our forefathers intended?  Or … is our system so flawed [at its foundation] that it will become irrepariably dismantled?  I shudder.  Do you?

I wrote: "… similar to a patient using *crutches until an operation can be afforded and performed successfully."     

*To clarify, my usage of the word ‘crutches’  is meant figuratively, rather than literally.

deber B wrote, "We never needed a stimulus package.   Period."

A small business owner was discussing comments she overheard among her employees this past summer.

Employee A: "I used my tax rebate check to repay a friend for the loan to get my car repaired."

Employee B:  "Are you kidding?  My electric bill was past due.  I was able to catch up, and avoid my power being disconnected."

In a conversation with my cousin this past May: "I don’t know how they [her son and his wife] are going to manage when his unemployment runs out.  But he’s fortunate because it’s been extended."

And in September, a friend’s neighbor remarked: "My son got a great deal when he traded his car."  "Oh, yes!  He took advantage of the Cash for Clunker program."

And in October, a local real estate broker remarked: "Business was good." -referring to the first time buyers $8,000 tax credit. 

Finally, a bank executive in Houston - "We’re lending again."

The stimulus package served as an expensive band aide.  Perhaps.  However, the state of the economy need immediate intervention when Obama came into office.  And, no matter who occupied the White House, the crisis was imminent and needed to be addressed swiftly … similar to a patient using crutches until an operation can be afforded and perfomed sucessfully.   

Divisive and impassioned criticism seems pointless. What bothers me are the naysayers who pronounce the entire Obama administration’s legistlative efforts [the recovery act, bailouts, and health care reform] as fatal disasters facing all Americans.  Sure.  The problems inherited by the current administration were addressed in a crisis environment, and the quick fixes were certainly imperfect.  Yet, there seems to be no clear consensus from the naysayers as to what might work if the administration was back in the hands of the GOP.  Indeed, what political figures would emerge from a party that is experiencing its own inner debacles?

Current,  health care reform  is being attacked.  In fact, many have vehemently stated that they hope that Obama/Pelosi’s health care reform bill will not pass.  Frankly, I’m not sure if there is a sensible/feasible remedy for Americans in need of health care when our current system is so seriously flawed.  Yet, while I do not claim to have expertise to suggest what I believe might work, conventional wisdom tells me that reform is imperative to address the urgent and growing demands for adequate health care … now, rather than later.

So what is that answer to providing health care to American citizens in this economic climate?  Denis Cortese, President and CEO of the Mayo Clinic is among the experts whose ideas about health care reform I agree with.

Please click below, for an interview he had with CHARLIE ROSE in July.

http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10496 

My point is that criticism is more legitimate if and when alternative solutions are suggested, and thus more compelling [to adopt].