We’ve been clipping coupons for awhile now. Ok, my husband has been clipping coupons for awhile now.

This weekend I cut both my son and husbands’ hair myself. I only drew blood once.

These are not huge things, but they are a sign of the times. In case you missed it, the Dow is down by 500 points, Lehman Brothers, a firm that survived the American Depression, has filed for the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. history, and everyone is running around going ‘aaaaaahhhhhhhh sssshhhiiiiittttttt!!!!’

I don’t know about your family…but mine is pretty much going…’umm, yeah….we know…join the coupon clipping party.’

I have friends who are now sending their kids to preschool only twice a week, to cut back on bills. I have family considering moving in with other family members so they don’t charge another grocery store trip. While my husband and I would consider moving out of Los Angeles, our home is now worth about $150,000 less than what we paid. I’ve taken a full-time job. My mother is now working simply for the health insurance. Sign. Of. The. Times.

What the hell is going on? And how do we fix it? Because as much as I don’t mind sitting in my backyard cutting hair…I can only nick so many ears before my family demands better.

I also write this, somewhat hesitantly, because I know we are the lucky ones. We have jobs. We have a home. We have little to complain about. But I would be remiss if I didn’t think of my friends, my family, my neighbors, and the rest of the country when I see the headlines and watch the reports.

But here is the thing…and it’s the thing that got me writing this blog post and the thing that drives me…I firmly believe Senator John McCain is NOT one of us. I realize that is a harsh statement…but…DAMN. With an heiress wife and a lack of knowledge of ANYTHING relevant to ME…he just has no clue.

I wasn’t the only one who heard it.

The Obama campaign picked up on it too. John McCain told Judy Wudroff –  “It’s easy for me to go to Washington and, frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have.”

To which I yelled at my tv “NO FUCKING SHIT ASSHOLE!”

I realize that is a bit harsh. But it’s how I felt.

John McCain has no clue- NO CLUE– what average Americans go through. NONE, except for what is put in front of him in a memo as he sits in one of his MANY homes.  I do not believe for ONE SECOND that he understand the out-of-work Detroit auto-worker or the single mother. NOT FOR ONE SECOND.

Which leads me to why I think Senator Barack Obama does…and frankly, it’s easy.

He’s lived it.

He’s doing well now, sure. So am I. But he at the very least GETS IT, and I will go a step further: he gets it and RESPECTS it. Maybe that’s the bigger key…he RESPECTS it.

Go ahead and laugh at me. Tell me I’ve been taken by yet another politician and that this guy doesn’t get it as I’m a dreamer for thinking he does. But I will tell you something…and I will tell you it FROM MY TOES…I have met him. I have met hundreds of politicians and done hundreds of interviews. You can tell when they spout statements and taking points. You can tell when they speak what you want to hear, not what needs to be said. You can also tell when they speak from experience. Which is exactly what Senator Obama does when he talks about having little money and having a single mom and speaking with people on the streets of Chicago.

However, you can’t just take my gut as a reason to vote. You can’t. While I wish you would all take my gut as a reason…that would be stupid. So…Just having lived it and ‘getting it’ isn’t enough. And while we all want someone we can related to running things ( see: conservative women finding kinship in Sarah Palin) I am smart enough to know just ‘getting it’ won’t fix this country’s problems.

Thus Obama’s plan. It does not favor the rich. It does not favor those running large companies and it most certainly does benefit women, families, and the working class. While I don’t want to punish the rich…I want the working class to be empowered. I want women to be empowered. I want families to be empowered.

I, very simply, want my parents to have health insurance and I want to send my husband and son to get their hair cut at a salon.

I want…I want many things. But I want leaders that know and understand what needs to be done and just WHO needs help. Please, listen to Senator Joe Biden at MY high school in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. MINE. Where I was the editor of the paper and where I played varsity basketball. MY HIGH SCHOOL.

Yes, Senator Obama knows and understands what is happening enough to send his Vice Presidential candidate to the South Lake High in St. Clair Shores- because he KNOWS how many of my friends are now out of work. Because he KNOWS how many of MY family members need tax relief. Because he understands what has happened in the home town I love.

People I know need help making their next mortgage payment. People I know want to send their kids to better schools. People I know just want a job.

Please watch Senator Biden. Please listen to what he says about the Obama-Biden ticket. Please hear his rant against McCain. Then head over to BlogHer.com and read Michelle Obama’s latest blog post on equal pay.

Listen. Read. Watch.

Watch and understand this is from where I spent 4-years of my life in school and 19-years growing up. THIS right here is how much the Obama campaign gets it…

While everyone was looking at the bright new shiny object otherwise known as Sarah Palin, Congress went back into session. Democrats decided their new strategy was to scrap plans to force a vote on the expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance program, knowing full well it wouldn’t go anywhere due to King George and his mighty Veto.

Booo! Hiss!

I really wish they would have put this one up for a vote again, because I think it’s great campaign and political fodder to show Republicans as being against health care for children (again). Also to show a McCain no vote again (if he bothers to show up). But really, to take care of the millions of uninsured children in this nation.

Megan at Jezebel writes,

“Congress won’t take up SCHIP again despite the fact that Republicans don’t want to have to vote against it before an election because they’re scared of the veto pen. Wahhhh.”

However, that’s not entirely true and I understand Democrat reasoning
.

Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, a bipartisan advocacy group for children, said: “We definitely would prefer for Congress to vote on the legislation next year rather than this year. Why would you pass a bill now when, in six months, you could get a better bill covering more uninsured children?”

Of course, who knows what will happen in six months. Thus, my wish for this to get pushed to the forefront again…now.

A further explanation at Daily Kos:

… if you asked a Member of Congress for a deeper explanation, here’s what you’d likely get. The Congressional leadership is still looking to adjourn as close to its September 26th target dates. That leaves three full weeks left in the session. Even if the House were to arrange to bring another SCHIP bill to the floor quickly, which is a relatively simple matter under their rules, in the Senate, the Republicans would almost certainly bog the measure down, citing the surety of another Bush veto. And as we’ve discussed before, a determined minority in opposition can eat up a whole week or more in delaying a bill that’s supported by even a clear majority in the Senate. That’s more than a third of the time left in the session for the Senate. All for a bill that will be vetoed, and for which the leadership thinks we haven’t got the votes for an override.

Yes, there’d be some symbolic value in it. But the question the leadership will be asking itself is: are there other things we think we can pass in that time that do stand a chance of being enacted into law?

Not a very satisfying answer to the question of why there will likely be no SCHIP vote, but it’d be the most honest one.

The Go Health Insurance blog writes,

“We’re thinking that the Democrats are banking on Illinois Senator Barack Obama winning the presidential election in November. Senator Obama is a supporter of expanding SCHIP, and he’s even gone as far to say he’ll push for a federal mandate that all children have health insurance.”

Which is a good point to bring up, considering Senator Obama worked to expand health care to 150-thousand uninsured working parents and kids in Illinois, and does, as the blog mentions, support the expansion.

There are 9 million uninsured children in the United States. 9 MILLION.

If we can pay for a War, we can pay to take care of the kids of this country.

I can understand the debate over health insurance, but what I don’t understand is forcing the children of our country to suffer while we duke it out. In session, out of session. Veto, overrides, budgets. None of them seem to mean much when 9 million children wait in the wings.

Crossposted at BlogHer.com