Trick-or-Treat: For or Against Either Schmo
Brian Bosché
Clash Daily Guest Contributor
It’s how many of us feel. We’re watching our favorite show on Hulu or listening to music on Pandora and then we hear a 30-second stack of lies, half-truths and a candidate having crafted the art of saying, “I’m so and so and I approve this message.” Yes. We’re in the middle of political ad mania.
Over the past couple weeks the Obama campaign got smart and signed Mr. Voiceover Heaven from the films Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty. They picked none other than Morgan Freeman and scripted him to say, “Every President inherits challenges. Few have faced so many. … There are still challenges to meet—children to educate, a middle class to rebuild, but the last thing we should do is turn back now.” The closing frame, of course, wraps the ad with the campaign’s “FORWARD” logo. Trick-or-Treat.
Poor guy. If Freeman wasn’t such a Democratic hack, I could imagine charging, even bankrupting, “Obama for America” for putting such nonsense to such dramatic music.
Though Freeman makes a great Visa commercial and is second only to the voice of James Earl Jones, repetitious ads have become nauseating. Hailing from the hotly contested battleground state of Virginia, I can tell you that my wife may put five knuckles through her radio if the madness continues much longer.
Close to Virginia’s coal region, the Romney camp has reminded us that mining is way of life. He’s told us that President Obama’s energy policies have crippled the industry and axed countless jobs. Okay, that’s true.
On the other hand, President Obama has reduced women to complaining, home-bodied “air traffic controllers” reigning over a casa full of kids. Suffice to say, we’re ready to hear, “That’s a wrap.”
At this point, it’s almost over. Take some ibuprofen, try to avoid election hangover and get the job the done. The same is still true: 2012 will be the most pivotal election of our time. No one doubts that we’re gazing at two distinct paths when it comes to America’s future. As compared to the elderly and middle-aged America, Millennials have the most daylight to go.
In our lifetime, we will see whether government debt will swallow-up our future wealth. We’ll know if government or private sector innovators will run our healthcare, one-fifth of the U.S. economy.
We’ll see whether government will step out of the student loan business and force colleges to compete for students’ business — thereby driving down tuition costs. Finally, we won’t forget that over 50 percent of us are currently unemployed, underemployed or back at school because we couldn’t find a job after graduation.
Though many high school government classes focus less and less on America’s foundational principles, it’s hard to imagine any founder foreseeing the day where campaign bumper stickers would tout love for government-run healthcare slapped with the namesake of an incumbent president. Though many of them, I’m sure, would’ve appreciated vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s reminder that our rights and abilities come from nature and God.
There’s an old adage that says voters vote four ways — for or against either candidate. On November 6, 2012, you’ll basically say that you gave President Obama another four years to finish the job (fueled on vapors of “hope”) or that you gave Mitt Romney the opportunity to clean things up. Opposite that, you’ll say that you prevented a President Romney or fired President Obama.
As for me and my house, we’ll fire President Obama. As a soon-to-be lawyer in a depressing legal market and a husband who will one day raise a family, I don’t trust the President who ballooned America’s debt to $16 trillion. He’s likely robbed the future prosperity of our generation.
Nor do I trust the man that claims to have saved students from astronomical tuition and burdensome student loan debt through a small, temporary freeze on interest rates. That did nothing for tuition rates that continuously outpace inflation.
This is about our country, not points scored in debates or political ads. This is about the preservation of our American heritage and opportunity. As far as your decision, the economy, your job or the lack thereof speaks for itself.
Image: Flickr; author Wakalani (Flickr); Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
Brian Bosché, 24, is unfiltered and focused on the obstacles affecting young people. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcasting from Virginia Tech and worked in both national and local media. Right now, he’s a third-year student at Liberty University School of Law. At the end of the day, his sights are set on exposing the federal government’s destruction of opportunity and the American Dream.