It's the ECONOMY, stupid!!!

I don't know who was the first to say those words that you see in the headline of this commentary, but they are words often regurgitated, especially during a political campaign in which people are worried more about what's in their pockets than a war, gay marriage, abortion, or which candidate is the biggest CELEBRITY?!?

Have you noticed? We now have TWO celebrities who are trying to get our votes!

Senator Barack Obama and Governor Sarah Palin.

And now, we have whacha call a little dilemma on our hands.

Because most of us are easily swayed/conned by celebrities, this is an election that will feature a Democrat celebrity and a Republican celebrity and what we need to ASK ourselves is, "Which ONE of these political celebrities is LYING the LEAST?!?"

Here's something else to think about. When we vote on the 4th of November, we should be thinking about and voting for who we think our next PRESIDENT should be.

If you think it should be the Democrat candidate, you'll vote for Barack Obama.

Buuuuut...If you think it should be the Republican candidate, conversations on the street, talk radio, beauty shops and barber shops indicate you'll vote that way because of SARAH PALIN!

Hel-looohh!!! John McCain? Remember HIM? The war hero guy who supposedly has all the experience?

Folks, in my lifetime, I've never seen anything like this. And ya know what? If Obama had picked HILLARY CLINTON to be his running mate, most people, whether they were aware of it or not, would be casting their vote for the next President of the United States based on which VICE Presidential candidate they liked the most.

As my long time theatrical agent Sid Levin likes to say, "It is what it is!" and folks, what it is (or will be on the 4th of November) is that what will arguably be the most important election in our lifetime(s) will come down to...........(I'll let you finish this sentence!)

LET'S GO BACK TO OUR HEADLINE, "It's the ECONOMY, stupid!!!"

For those of you who have been reading my commentaries for a few months or longer, you know that I have written about our economy often. And I've expressed the belief that not only are we IN a RECESSION, we were/are dangerously close to a DEPRESSION!!!

I think you'll agree that what has happened the last few days support what I've been writing. I've also written the belief that we still have time to escape what a depression would do to all of us, but we need to CHANGE the way the "money" folks have been doing business. They've been virtually unregulated because that's what the current power folks in Washington have believed is the best way TO do business.

With little or NO regulation, they sell us the story that everyone will benefit MORE than if they (the "money" folks) were burdened by/with regulations.

MY contention has been that history has shown us that everytime you let people who run phone companies, radio empires, television empires, banks and Wall Street operate without STRINGENT regulations/oversight, you end up with what we're seeing now. Places going bankrupt, people at the top walking away with gigantic golden parachutes and mom and pop working stiffs who GET stiffed and wonder how they ended up in the poorhouse!

TWO MORE EXAMPLES OF CELEBRITY POWER:

I'm only going to use two examples because these are the two guys I listen to when I want to hear (with some exceptions) the absolute opposite of what I believe to be true!

Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

During the last many months I've heard these two guys say over and over and over again that the (our) economy was in good shape, the best in the world, etc., etc. and people who were suggesting otherwise were simply miserable people who are never happy about anything in this country and who are always complaining. Or as John McCain's economic guru Phil Gramm recently said, "We've become a nation of WHINERS!!!"

What I'm now writing is being written on the evening of September 17, 2008. On September 15, 16 and 17, we (this country) have been hit with some terrible economic news involving bankruptcy, bail-outs, etc., etc. Things that lead to one thing and one thing only.

BECAUSE OF LACK OF REGULATION(s), WE, THE TAXPAYERS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS GREEDY INCOMPETENCE!!!

If you've been listening to Limbaugh and Hannity this past Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, here's (in essence) what you've been hearing from them; They are no longer claiming that our economy has been good or great these past many months. They're not saying it really was lousy when they were preaching the opposite, they're just ignoring what they were saying then. In fact, what they ARE claiming is that because of the DEMOCRATS not putting proper REGULATIONS into place, THAT'S why our economy is in the bad shape it's in now. And they're (Limbaugh and Hannity) calling for/demanding INVESTIGATIONS!!!

And they're doing this (with presumably) STRAIGHT FACES!!!

CELEBRITIES!!! Whether they're smooth talking talk show hosts or smooth talking politicians, you gotta understand that when all is said and done, all they're trying to do is to SELL you something!!!

So what about our two POLITICAL celebrities?

What we have to try to figure out is which one of these two is the real deal and cast our vote accordingly. Between now and the next 48 days, we will learn some things about all four of these candidates that we don't know on the day this is being written.

I watched the first half of a conversation Sean Hannity had with Governor Sarah Palin on the Fox News Channel tonight. On this date, I'm sitting here believing that Sarah Palin would like to be a part of doing something good for this country. Does her version of "good" match up with what MY version or YOUR version of "good" is? Hard to say after seeing her in action tonight. What I saw was sweet, slick and nothing inflammatory. And ya know what? That's also pretty much what my take on Barack Obama is. Pretty soon, we'll see the candidates debating! THAT's when someone might slip up and become EXPOSED! And in some cases, that might be a GOOD thing!

In any event, above all else, these candidates need to remember our headline;

It's the ECONOMY, stupid!!!

THOUGHTS OR COMMENTS: Please write to me at scottstjames@sbcglobal.net. I write back to everyone.

THE NEXT BLOG? Unless something unexpected comes up, a week from today. As a rule, a new blog is posted every Wednesday afternoon (late) or (early/late) Wednesday evening.