Are You Better Off Than You Were 8 Years Ago?

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants you dead

Gadabout wants to know if you are better off than you were eight years ago? – and yes, I refer to the great question posed by presidential candidate Ronald Reagan during the 1980 contest. I’m waiting for an answer. No, I am not interested in your thoughts on how awful it is that we are at war, or how American dignity has supposedly suffered under the evil hand of George Bush. I don’t care if you despise Bush, or if you are staunch supporter. I don’t care if your spoiled children are only average students at average high schools or universities. I don’t care if you’ve put on 15 extra pounds and suffer from male pattern baldness. I am just asking you the question that sunk then President Carter (okay, it was only a 4 year question, but who is counting) and vaulted Reagan into the white house. The answer for Gadabout (excluding personal failures and an ever expanding waistline) is an empirical Yes – a Yes with a capital Y.

Now that the country is waist deep in the election process, it seems appropriate to start asking tough questions concerning public policy. Since Barack Obama has been given a pass on making actual policy statements and is allowed to run around talking about “change” and “bridges” like an excited school girl on a Friday night, it seems to me that we are engaged in a simple beauty contest for the white house. The same with Hillary. All she finds important is to lash out at the current state of affairs and how she will solve all problems. It’s that simple; she is a proven leader so vote for Pedro.

It’s about time Americans get over cool campaigns, youthful movements and pageantry. There is a real world out there full of twists and turns, and Gadabout wants to know who can take the reigns and steer this rocket ship on a course of success. I want to know who has the abilities to kick ass and not bother taking names. I want to know who will put together a Cabinet capable of addressing crime, energy, education, immigration and same sex marriages. I want someone who can look you straight in the eye and say “no” when it would be easier to say “yes.” In short I want the next president to not be a yielding yes-man to Muslim terrorists who are dedicated to blowing up my favorite Starbucks. I want America to rule the world, and have the rest world agree that the almighty dollar is the standard. I want rapists and pedophiles locked up for life. I want Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running for cover. I want ANWR exploited in an earth friendly fashion. I want it all, and so should you.

You might be a Bush basher, but you have to admit you know where he stands on the issues. You might cringe when he delivers an address, but you can bet the world listens with interest. Bush is a leader, not a cheerleader. Americans are leaders. Americans demand more than promises of change, balloons and waving hands. Let’s put some meat on the plate and start talking reality.