Apology

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU

Click here to see whether your taxes would decrease – and by about how much – if Obama were elected.

The site then goes on to contrast the McCain and Obama tax plans.

GRABBING A BEER WITH THE PRESIDENT

Of course, there’s more to this election than your taxes, but let’s face it: for many people, that – and which candidate they just like better – is how they make up their minds.

It’s an interesting dynamic. If you were selecting a brain surgeon for your child, would you choose the one that left the most money in your pocket? The one with whom you’d most like to grab a beer?

I’m not saying being President is brain surgery, but you’re definitely entrusting your children’s lives to your choice. And it is the most important job in the world. So I tend to go for intellect and temperament over likeability.

The good news is that, first, as that tax calculator shows, Obama will likely leave more money in your pocket. And that, second – at least in my view – Obama just happens to be the more likeable candidate. He has that great unforced smile, attracts enthusiastic crowds, and, at the end of the day, just seems to be more comfortable in his own skin.

LIPSTICK

The Republicans have put lipstick on a pig and called it a plan for change. Where’s the change in making tax cuts for the wealthy permanent? Where’s the change in saying you don’t mind staying in Iraq for 100 years? Where’s the change in vowing to appoint ‘clones’ of the Bush Supreme Court Justices? That was Senator McCain’s word: clones. Clones are not about change, clones are about more of the same. And frankly, where’s the change in mocking and belittling Democrats like Al Gore (who never said he invented the Internet, but actually did more to nurture it than almost anyone) and like John Kerry with his three purple hearts? (Remember the purple-heart Band-Aids Republican Convention-goers were all supplied with to mock his service?) Where’s the change in mocking community organizers who spend their youth trying to lift people up? Or in mocking Democrats for their ties to Hollywood. Didn’t Ronald Reagan have a tie to Hollywood? Hmmm. What was it? It’s on the tip of my tongue. Oh! I know – he was an actor!

APOLOGY

They want an apology for using the word lipstick? How about an apology for what they’ve done to this country these last eight years? They’ve cut the value of the dollar nearly in half. They’ve borrowed $4 trillion from our kids to give tax cuts to billionaires. They’ve sent thousands of our kids to die invading the wrong country. They’ve diminished our standing in the world. They’ve done nothing on health care. They’ve held back stem cell research. They’ve fought against worker protections and against benefits for returning veterans. They’ve installed corporate lobbyists as regulators. (Their Interior Department, we learned on last night’s news, was literally in bed with the oil industry.) They’ve dug us into a deep, deep hole. And they want an apology? The only thing more ridiculous than their wanting an apology from us is their wanting four more years.

AND YES . . .

I do remember what day this is – and our great friend, Rob Deraney, whom we lost that day. (It was actually Rob who introduced Charles and me.) But the best way to honor the memory of those we lost is not, as former Mayor Rudy Gu911iani recently did, mock community organizers – the same mayor who insisted on putting the City’s emergency control center in the World Trade Center – but rather to help get our great country back on track.

Tomorrow: The Big Picture