Obanomics

Obama is like that professor we had in college. The good one. The one that made things interesting. The one who made things make sense. The one who could put the snapshot of now into the big picture of then. That’s what Obama has done in his recent speeches. He put racism in its greater context. He gave us the big picture. He did it again today at Cooper Union where he spoke on the economy. He didn’t just talk about what isn’t working or how it’s all the GOP’s fault. He gave us the big picture. He made everything make sense. He made economics interesting. This is more than a gift for inspiring oratory, this is the gift of a brilliant mind. Imagine, a guy like that in the Oval Office! It’s been a while.

Vegas Odds

Another win for Hillary. This time without as much as a whimper. Just a hard-fought victory with the usual political shennanigens. The real news is not Senator Clinton. Or the second-place Obama. The real news is John Edwards. The champion of the little guy is now looking very much like the little guy himself, netting on 4% of the vote. I mean, that’s Dennis Kucinich kind of numbers. Yikes! So John, isn’t time you walk away from what is clearly a two-man race? Isn’t it time you let the front-runners fight for the economically disenfranchised? Isn’t time you took a rest from your populist hokum? Spend some time with your family. Write your memoirs. Shoot, go treat yourself to another $300 haircut. You deserve it.

Got Mitt?

Well, spending the family fortune has finally paid off. Romney wins Michigan. Mitt grabs the gold. Not so fast. This win has less to do with mad-money ad spending, and more to do with the power of a brand. Mitt’s victory isn’t about his economic plan, his upbeat rust-belt promises or his mannequin-head good looks. It all comes down to the power of the name Romney. Romney is a name Michigan can trust. Romney is a name that hearkens back to a vibrant automobile industry, an ascendant economy; a Michigan that used to be. Romney is a brand name. Sadly, it’s the same phenomenon that put a guy named George Bush in the White House in 2000. George Bush is a Presidential name. After all, we just had a guy with the exact same name in the oval office. It’s the reason that a gal named Clinton has a very good chance to be the next President of the United State. She has a brand name–– a name that a lazy, uninformed, and ultimately Pavlovian electorate can trust. The problem with this country is not red states and blue states. It is lack of imagination. And its why the name Romney will always beat out a John Doe or even a John McCain. At least, in Michigan.

Over a Barrel

Okay, I’m just thinking out loud here. But go with me. The next presidential election, let’s elect some oil man from Texas. You know, a guy who is cozy with the Saudis. Then––just to be on the safe side––we’ll invade some oil-rich, middle eastern country. Some sort of preemptive strike. Are you with me so far? We’ll throw our weight around as the last remaining Superpower… and badda bing, badda boom: a record drop in the price of oil. Sound like a plan? Right? A no-brainer. So why are oil prices at a record high––$100 a barrel? Will somebody explain this to me? Okay. Plan B. We elect a woman with no connections to the petroleum industry, we snub the Saudis, withdraw from an oil-rich…