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Lindsay Metcalf
on Jun 19 2013 - 06:00 AM
My top five most important moments of the summer so far
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mara williams
on Jun 18 2013 - 06:00 AM
Hey, manchild, mama says: clean your room, wash the dishes, don't drink and drive.
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Emily Parnell
on Jun 16 2013 - 06:00 AM
Eating fresh, local produce is good for body and soul
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Jim Cosgrove
on Jun 13 2013 - 06:00 AM
I just want to buy some pants. Please, turn down the music.
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I’ve definitely picked who I’ll vote for in November. In fact I love one of the candidates so much I would fly his flag from the top of our house, write his name on our toddler’s diapered-bottom or install a blinking light with his name on my car if I could.
(I know what you’re thinking - it has to be Obama, right? I mean, who gets that excited about John McCain? Good point. What if I told you I love veterans and men over 65? Yet I also am hungry for a change. Confused?)
Being a journalist, the kind who is supposed to be void of any public opinions, I won't take up space with the specifics of my political infatuation. But said candidate better know this. My devotion has limits. This definitely isn’t an unconditional love kind of thing. Nope, if I really felt I had to, I could turn on him.
So he better – well, they both better – step up and get a little more specific about how they plan to “fix” this economy. No more of this babble about how the current economic plan isn’t working or how they both will work to get us out of this mess. Stop with the whole “we’ll have to sit down and really look at the situation.” Stop with the photo ops and the sound bites about tax credits and more stimulus checks.
Those are just words. This mom needs a plan. Preferably one written in wide-tip marker on an easel board so I can really soak it in. Make it in an outline form too, as in, "I'll do this first, than this, then that..."
All I want them to do is tell me what it will take to get the gas prices down and then the steps they’d take to make that happen. Add in food. One can assume that where the gas prices go the food prices will follow, but I wouldn’t mind having some reassurance on that front, too.
Bottom line, what do McCain and Obama plan to do so my family, never, ever, again has to dish out $1,200 in one month (July) for just food and gasoline? We’re not talking the good gas, no we go for the cheapest unleaded we can find. And we’re not talking fine meats and organic fruits/vegetables or fancy prepared salads here. Just the whole wheat bread on sale, fatty meats because I can’t afford the lean and fruits and vegetables I scrub like crazy hoping to wipe off all the pesticides that may be lingering.
And still, $1,200.
We all keep talking about the economy and every mom I know is clipping coupons, making a 7-meal dinner plan and sticking close to the grocery list, no extras. But here’s the thing. Where’s all the talk about fixing it? Is there really no perfect plan? Should I just give up the whole idea of ever having a savings account again and going anywhere but a hotel 25 minutes away from home for a family vacation?
Anybody else sick of not hearing specifics? Not hearing exactly what McCain and Obama would do to put money back in our wallets instead of it constantly flying out?
I still love one of the men running for president. And maybe I’ll pledge my unconditional loyalty (albeit secretly) if he gets out an easel, a pack of markers and draws a real – I mean real – plan to get us out of this mess.
I do hope other moms, such as you, realize that the change rhetoric is just that. And yes, we do need more specifics. How will MY family of 6 with a husband already working two jobs to support us be helped? I'd like to know more about any 'plans' as well. ((and I do need to be better about using coupons and planning, that needs to be my plan))I said that wrong... couldn't figure out how to delete & rewrite... I meant that you already realize the need for a plan... that you you NEED to realize that... Anyway, sorry if the first comment came off wrong. I was agreeing with your blog...for sure, telling us that they are going to change is different than telling us how. I feel you on the savings we really thought this was our year. so far its not.I couldn't have said it better myself. There's a part of me, though, that thinks we won't ever get specifics. Mainly because no presidential candidate has a real idea of what it's like to be a mom trying to streeeeeetch that dollar at the grocery store. So while they may be able to sympathize with us, they'll never totally understand it. The smart candidate, however, will do exactly as you say. Get out the easel and show everyone specifics. That would be a platform people would hold onto fervently.I wonder if it won't take oh, can I say the word ---- "bipartisan cooperation" on the Hill to get some price reductions. It has been a frustrating summer with these stupid, outlandish prices that are limiting opportunity in our "Great Land of Opportunity."Great blog - I'm right with you. They don't make it easy for us to know who to believe though. Whoever addresses a solution to the gas situation will get my vote. They need to find other alternatives or it is never going to change and families with mini-vans are just not going to be able to afford it. We have a small CRV that only fits my family of 5 and it's still expensive to fill the tank. I can't imagine how we'd do it if we had a bigger car.I honestly feel, whoever our next President will be, will not know the right plan to implement for this out of control economy until he is in office for a while. They can say and promise and think they have a plan for their platform, but until they are in office and can take it by the horns, access and have control, will they be able to make positive changes. This is the first election I am not excited to vote in. We have lost so much in this great land of opportunity in the past 8 years and whoever gets in office come November, is going to have a very hard road a head of them with a country watching, hoping and wanting change, like yesterday! I would not want his (hurts to write "his" and not "her") job!!!!
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