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4 States Down - 46 To Go
With just four states having now voted and nine more months of campaigning in the 2012 presidential election what have we learned?
The lessons may fall on deaf ears but a lot has been exposed about the character and nature of this race for the White House. To really understand the significance we must first identify the motives of the voices trying to influence the election outcome.
Make no mistake, the clearest message so far has been that there may be no objective media left in America as the news services, network and cable stations and newspapers are now dominated by ideological and political dogma, not but any concern for giving us a fair and balanced report on the candidates or campaigns.
It seems as if there can be no one left in Americawho is for what is good for the nation just what is good for their favorite party or politician. Things have gotten so far from reality that so called news stations like MSNBC and CNN have condemned Romney for singing "America the Beautiful".
Last week Obama did a couple of second sound bite of a song by the Al Green , without a doubt a great gospel and soul singer, and the media wanted to put Obama on American Idol as the next king of soul.
Yesterday Romney sang an entire stanza of America the Beautiful, perhaps one of the most beloved patriotic songs in America, and he was condemned by television news media. Since when did it become bad for our political leaders to sing patriotic songs?
These must be the same voices that have been trying to rid America of the "Pledge of Allegiance", remove "In God We Trust" from all mention, and ban the Nativity scene from all public places. Next they will try to remove the words from the Constitution saying people "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights".
Having been involved in music I can say that Romney's a cappella performance of a very difficult piece of patriotic music displayed more guts than any politician in a long while and was much closer to pitch than many performances by professional singers who have butchered the Star Spangled Banner at sports events.
So before Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski from MSNBC and Soledad O'Brien, CNN and all the other news celebrities condemn our politicians for being patriotic they should sing their own version of God Bless America or the Star Spangled Banner to thank the nation for letting them be successful.
Then there is Obama and his dog. As if the Republicans can't get in enough mischief by themselves the liberal media has served us up their version of patriotism thanks to the president's top campaign advisor, Chicago aide David Axelrod.
He took a nasty swipe at Romney who earlier said his family dog liked to ride in a kennel on the roof of the car rather than inside the car with five kids. I was in a family with a bunch of rowdy kids and I would have paid to ride on the roof away from the chaos.
But Axelrod says we don't love our dog unless we treat them like Obama and he tweeted a photo of the president and his dog Bo riding in the presidential limo. Somehow a Chicago city boy like Axelrod or Obama thinks pets belong in limos, which most Americans don't have, with the president holding them by the neck.
That might be the problem with America. Our leaders want to keep dogs locked in a limo with their hands around their neck. The same way they want to control people. All my dogs loved freedom and would have bit anyone strangling them for a photo op. Given a choice, I can't imagine a dog that would rather be strangled in a limo than in the back of a pick up or even in a cage if they are a hunting dog on the way to the fields for they live for the freedom, not for confinement.
Enough for the silliness brought to you by the news media. Long ago we learned not to seek the news from the news people.
The campaign got rather nasty but no true American ever ran from a fight. Before Florida the media said Romney did not defend himself, now they say he was too aggressive. The people voting will tell us what they thought.
One thing the media really forgot is how Florida is the microcosm of America. There is no other state more representative of Americathan the Gator state. Southern Florida is more like New York or New Jersey than many places in New York thanks to the many retired Yankees. Northern Floridais more southern. The Hispanic vote is equally split with Cubans south and Puerto Ricans north.
There are eight very different television markets, it is the fourth largest state, it has nearly double digit unemployment, leads the nation in foreclosures and exemplifies the nation in religious diversification. There are more seniors, more rich and more poor than most places.
Tourism is huge, environmental issues are crucial, the space program is essential, and of course it is the entertainment capital of the country. In politics we have elected officials ranging from the most conservative to liberal, from Marco Rubio, US Senator and GOP Vice Presidential favorite, to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, mouthpiece for Obama and the liberal Democratic party.
In fact, Florida is so diverse that the New York Yankees have spring training camp there and the Miami Heat rule the NBA press machine with a team built around a Cleveland native, Lebron James. If that isn't enough, Florida has everything from the super rich in South Beach to the alligators of the Everglades.
I say the media should just sit back and report the news and let the Americans of Florida make the news. History will always teach us that when the media and politics fail we always can count on the people to show us the way to the light. Just give the public the chance to make sense of the election and they will. That is the power and strength of America.
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