Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The world is too much with me tonight

I'm watching the debate and not sure of my reaction, but I don't want to wait for pundits to tell me what to think. The media hypes this up as a close race, a sigificant debate, all because it makes a good story. Obama has done a better job tonight of calling out Romney on contradictions and mistakes, but he's still not as fiery as I'd like him to be. Nobody has asked Romney the hard questions--they're talking right now about offshore investments and outsourcing and Romney says he wants to make America attractive to entrepreneurs. Why doesn't someone ask him about his own offshore investments, his record of outsourcing. Why do people let him keep boasting that he has business experience and knows how to fix budgets when all economists say he's not done that, has a disastrous record. Ask the governor of Massachusetts who said if Romney fixes things, Massachusetts was not one of them. Why doesn't someone ask him about the Republican denial of a job support bill for veterans? The right of women to control their own bodies. It's like they're pussyfooting around the issues--even President Obama, though I admire his civilized demeanor and the fact that he doesn't smirk like his opponent.
It strikes me too that Romney is incrediby naive about the operation of government--he says "I will do this," and "I will do that"--does he recognize that he'd have to work with Congress and that's not as easy as he blithely assumes? Obama has not succeeded with some of his programs because of an obstructionist Republican Congress who openly said their one goal was to defeat Obama and they didn't care if they brought the country to its knees doing that. Now, even if elected, Romny is liable to inhereit a highly Democratiic Congress. Thank God for checks and balances.
All in all the debate was a boring disappointment to me. The moderator did a pretty good job of keeping order and not allowing rude over-riding but it could have been tougher. Still being in that position is a difficult one, and I admire her aplomb. I admire what she was able to do on national TV in front of a huge and harsh audience.
I was intimidated today by speaking to about 40 members of Rotary South--but after two days of anxiety, the talk went well. As my host said, "No one walked out early"--apparently they often do--"and they asked lots of questions." Still, I think I"m tired tonight just from relief that my speech is over. Think how President Obama, Governor Romney, and the moderator,whose name I don't know, must feel!
I'm tired too because I was carried back in time this morning about thirty-five or forty years. I had to get Jacob up and going, fed, dressed, and ready for school. Whew! Haven't had that responsibility in a long time. We made it, and he was ready when Christian came to walk him across the street to school. Then I was off on a round of errands. Yep, I'm weary

2 comments:

LD Masterson said...

Let me guess...you're not a Romney fan.

Glad your talk at the Rotary went well. Get some rest.

judyalter said...

LD, perceptive of you:-) But I've decided it's important to speak out about something you believe so strongly in. However, I thought I aimed for some balance in that blog--sigh, guess not.