Oil and Elections - I couldn't decide which

Well, I’m a pathetic little blogger, aren’t I? The point of these things is to post on at least a semi-regular basis. Not lazy me. At least, not when I want to be coherent and calm. The way things have been going lately it has been difficult to not scream at the world with its collective head in the sand. Hopefully, there will be only two subjects today. I don’t want to bore people any more than necessary.

First up is the economy. I will be the very first to admit that I am not an expert, however, anyone with any kind of sense should have seen the current state of things in the U.S. coming. It came faster than I thought, but it was at least I knew it was on the horizon. I’ll focus on oil. We can only go so long using and using and using before it runs out. As I’ve said before, oil appears in so many areas of our lives, not just in our cars, trucks, SUVs and Hummers, not to mention commercial vehicles, trains, ships and airplanes. There are millions and millions and millions of all these things, too, all voraciously hungry and belching out the indigestible bits.

With a war in oil country and densely populated countries such as China finding their affluent legs, there is less to go around. The U.S. has long been fortunate enough to have some of the cheapest gas on the planet. Now we howl with pain and anger because we must pay similar prices to many, many other countries. Driving to the corner store for a quart of milk is not going to be a viable thing all of a sudden. Oh, the horror, we may need to get out and walk! But wait, the local grocer is boarded up because Walmart or Safeway or whatever mega-store has pushed them all out. The price of milk will not only be the price of milk, which is also increasing on a regular basis, it will include the gas it takes to go buy it.

Next up is, you guessed it, the elections. Why anyone would want to be president right now is a mystery. The current mess is something that will take a very long time to fix. Actually, it can be stabilized and improved, but it may never be completely fixable.

The silent campaign by the media to support Barack Obama helped put him over the top. Just. Yes, yes, I am a supporter of Hilary Clinton. Yes, yes, I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist. It was painfully obvious, though, that there was a bias toward Senator Obama in the television media. In all too many news casts, the anchor or reporter would talk about Senator Clinton, usually to criticize, then show a clip of Mr. Obama speaking, usually about something positive. It was a very clever way to slant the coverage while covering equally.

Now, I really don’t have anything against him, but Senator Obama had better step it up. Talking change does not equal making change. I want some really solid policies and plans to implement them. He will also need to work with the Congress he has been so consistently slamming. He has a very limited window of opportunity to sway a lot of people to his side. If he thinks Mrs. Clinton was a harsh critic, he is in for a rude awakening. She said nothing that the Republicans weren’t already planning, and they are masters of the negative spin.

No-one should blame Mrs. Clinton for pointing out some of the obvious holes in his resume. They shouldn’t. He wasn’t expected to pull his punches. Why should she? And, let’s face it, the holes are obvious. He needs to show he understands and has a way to gain what he needs to plug them.

During a conversation with a friend yesterday, she described Senator Clinton as abrasive. She’s been described similarly, and worse, by so many people. I would love to know why. If she had been a man exhibiting the same tenacity, the same ability to stand toe to toe and fight, she would have been applauded as a strong, tough candidate. That’s a very disturbing gender bias.

I will vote for Obama in the election because the thought of John McCain in the White House chills me to the core. I am very much hoping that I will have a growing enthusiasm for him. Senator Obama seems to be genuine and earnestly wanting to help this country. We sure as hell need it. I wish him the best of luck. He sure as hell needs it.