Solid as Barack

Barack is back!

After ....whatever that was....during the last Presidential debate, Barack clearly got his mojo back and was at the top of his form last night.

"If you were scoring {the debate} on points, Obama wins on points," arch-conservative Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News. Laura Ingraham and Joe Scarborough took to Twitter to ratify Krauthammer's view.

Romney was over-the-top alpha male dog - complete with his "Binders of Women" - but Obama stood his ground - calmly but passionately and convincingly. God knows, Obama has something to stand on. All Romney has is a sales pitch which is, basically this: 'I can be a better President than Obama'. No real plan. No real product - except the recycled politics that got us into this mess in the first place.

As I watched Obama and Romney, the difference between the two men became crystal clear to me.

It's the difference between being a Boss and a Leader.

Romney knows how to be a Boss. He knows what he wants and he'll do whatever he needs to do to get what he wants. He doesn't pay attention to details - those are for "the staff".  His is the top salary. The salaries of his staff must never interfere with his bottom line - his profit margin.

Obama is a leader.  He has vision. He knows that a true leader serves the people. He understands that "a leader without a following is just a person out for a walk." He engages people and energizes them.

What I saw last night in Obama is the man who fought hard and smart and got The Affordable Care Act pass a deeply divided Congress. This is the man who got the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to pass an equally divided Congress. He also ended the war in Iraq and has a time certain to leave Afghanistan. He bailed out the Automotive Industry and brought us back from the brink of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. He is slowly turning around the economy and adding more jobs as the unemployment rate slowly drops and the housing market begins to improve.

Barack is "Solid as a Rock".

Romney is blind ambition in an empty suit.

Earlier this morning, I posted something on FaceBook that I read in The Writer's Almanac. Today happens to be the birthday of playwright, Arthur Miller (born NYC, 1915). This quote from 'Death of A Salesman' reminded me of Romney: 

The final scene of the play takes place at Willy Loman's funeral, and one of the characters says, "For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back — that's an earthquake. ... A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory."

The smiles on the faces of many Republicans are pretty thin-lipped and narrow. Last night, we saw the first tremors of the earthquake that is about to come - and an end to a pipe dream.

I'm pretty realistic. I'm quite sure that, if Obama wins the popular vote, it will be by a whisper thin margin. I take some solace in the fact that Kennedy won by less than 0.2%. I'm pretty confident, however, that Obama will win the electoral college vote.

My math predictions are that the number will be around 300 - thirty more than he needs.  Kennedy's electoral college count was 303 to Nixon's 219, the closest since 1916. This one may set a new record.

Huffington Post this morning has their predictions with Obama at 277 and Romney at 206

No, that's not a mandate, but I think the country is so divided it's the best we can hope for at this point. I don't think a second term of the Obama administration will do much to heal that particular divide. In fact, it may become worse. That's not Obama's fault. Rather, it's evidence that racism in this country is still not only alive but thriving at toxic levels.

Racism is rampant in this country, as well as its attendant repugnant ideologies that promote legislation to subjugate women, LGBT people and other minorities that are part and parcel of the Tea Party agenda which has so thoroughly infiltrated the Republican Party.

I do not believe that the American people will elect Mitt Romney - not just for these reasons but because I believe the American people can tell the difference between a Boss and a Leader. 

I believe the American people know a leader when they see one.

I believe Barack Obama is that leader.

One more debate on Monday, one more unemployment rate at the end of the month, and then comes the election on November 6th.

Just 68% of voting age Americans are registered to vote and in 2008, only 57% of voting age Americans actually voted. The percentages are even lower for Americans ages 18–29: in 2008, only about half of them actually cast a vote—and that was  the second-highest turnout on record for this age group.

I urge you to vote.  If you haven't yet registered, click here to find out the deadline to register in your state. (That link also provides a link allowing you to register online.) Encourage your family, friends, and neighbors to vote, too.

Listen to the debates. Learn the platforms and the candidates, from school board and state level candidates up to the national offices. Discuss the issues with your family and friends.  Encourage your college age friends and children to vote.

This year, people will be voting on amendments affecting marriage equality in 4 states and reproductive justice issues in at least 3 states.

Every vote counts.

This country needs to be as "solid as Barack".

Your vote can help us return this country to solid ground and lift it from regressive ideologies that help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Vote like your life depends on it.

Because, it does.