This Election’s Real Issue

Republicans are having difficulty understanding the basic pillar holding up the Obama administration.

That is why they will lose in a few weeks; traditional political “hot buttons” are not in play this election season.

It doesn’t seem to matter that President Barack Obama is a mystery man. So he was maybe born in Hawaii, but has a Connecticut Social Security number. He may have gone to schools where no-one remembers him as a fellow student, and no graduation photo or grades are forthcoming. He may be our first “Manchurian Candidate” president. No one really cares.

Obama has a Justice Department that selects which laws it likes and dislikes. Only laws approved by the president get enforced. No one cares.

Twenty million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits in the past 52 weeks. The trend is not reversing and the administration has no answers on how to fix the problem. No one cares.

Nearly every state and every large city is flirting with bankruptcy, with Illinois and Chicago at the front of the line. No one seems to care.

The national debt is so stifling that if every family earning over $100,000 was taxed at a 100 percent rate, our annual bills would not get paid. No one seems to care.

The economy is on the verge of collapse, our military is being downsized, and the federal government will take an enormous additional bite out of everyone’s income (at least from those who pay) starting in January. That ridiculously high tax increase will remove billions of dollars from hurting private sector markets from sea to shining sea. No one seems to care.

Well, what do what folks care about? Obama’s honesty and integrity? You’ve got to be kidding.

Tip O’Neill, a savvy Massachusetts Democrat, was known for his mantra: “All politics are local.” Democrats understand that very well.

Across the country millions of desperate, hurting Americans may not like anything Democrats hold dear, but they will vote for them in November.

When Mitt Romney, and Republicans in general, say they will fix the economy, what millions of frightened Americans, who have to feed their kids and pay the rent, hear is: “We will stop or reduce your government handout.”

See, if I have kids to feed each morning, and bills to pay (and absolutely no job prospects), I really don’t care that the dollar will tank in March. I don’t care about illegal aliens coming across an open border, gay or abortion rights, or the lies and deceit of Washington, D.C., I couldn’t care less about Israel’s plight, liberal Supreme Court Justice appointments, or whether the government will destroy the Second Amendment and disarm every law-abiding citizen.

I’ve got bigger fish to fry!

Tomorrow morning, come what may, I must put some food in front of my young children’s faces and keep a roof over their heads. If you mess with those needs, I’m your enemy. Democrats get it; Republicans don’t have a clue.

Obama is an egomaniac. He knows, in his heart of hearts, that he is the most wonderful gift Allah ever gave to America. He may not “feel our pain,” a la Clinton, but his underlings (who also have kids and bills) understand the deal.

If every taxpayer could be reduced to a sniveling, blind, naked, and needy wretch, they’d vote Democrat. Who gives a rip who or what we like?

Walt Osterman is the author of "Not Home Yet: A Tale Concerning Israel's Rebirth." He served in Vietnam and is a Bronze Star recipient. He lives in Wyoming.