OK, I voted for Obama: Where's my gift?
Barb ShellyEvery day for a week and a half I’ve been checking the mail and still it hasn’t arrived.
My gift, I mean.
I was one of the 50 percent of American voters who chose Barack Obama in last week’s presidential election. So surely there’s a gift awaiting me. So say Mitt Romney and some other Republicans, who have been suggesting that Obama won not because anyone thinks he’s moving the country in the right direction, but because he promised us all free stuff.
Really. As Bill O’Reilly said on Fox News on election night, “…there are 50 percent of the voting public who want stuff. They want things. And who is going to give them things? President Obama.”
This week, while speaking on a conference call to fundraisers and donors, Romney elaborated on what some of that stuff might be.
“With regard to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest was a big gift,” he said, according to reporters who listened in on the call. “Free contraceptives were very big with young, college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people.”
OK, fine. Obama pushed for policies to help young people get a start on their lives and lots of them voted for him. Knock me over with a feather, will you?
But I still don’t see what’s in it for me. As a woman of a certain age, I have no use for contraceptives, free or otherwise. My husband and I are working hard to get one last college student out of undergraduate school debt free. And even Obama, or Santa Claus, if you prefer, has shown no interest in my big idea, which is that kids in their 20s who get jobs with health care should carry their middle-aged parents on their policies.
More from Mitt: “You can imagine for somebody making $25,000 or $30,000 or $35,000 a year, being told you’re now going to get free health care, particularly if you don’t have it…I mean, this is huge.”
I’ll say! It was huge when Romney made free or low-cost health care available to working-class people when he was governor of Massachusetts. Back then it was seen as great public policy. Now, as part of Obamacare, it’s a handout.
Romney also singled out Obama’s pledge to stop efforts to deport the children of some undocumented immigrants as another example of free stuff.
Still nothing specifically for me, a multi-generation U.S. citizen who gets health care through her employer. But there must be something, because Romney said that “It’s a proven political strategy, which is, give a bunch of money to a group and, guess what, they’ll vote for you.”
The unmistakeable inference of all this is that Obama voters are freeloaders, whereas Romney appealed to a higher, though smaller, group of unselfish citizens — like senior citizens on Medicare and very wealthy Americans hoping to make the Bush tax cuts permanent.
It’s the 47 percent debacle, rehashed.
To be fair, more enlightened Republicans realize that the road to redemption in national elections needs to steer clear of insulting entire blocks of people.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called Romney’s remarks “absolutely wrong” and said the party needs to get the message across that “our policies benefit every American who wants to pursue the American dream.”
In a gift of a comment, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour recommended “a very serious proctology exam” for the GOP.
Other Republicans said Romney did them no favors, and they suggested that he head full speed for a rest stop called irrelevance.
If Obama is still working on his gift list, I am in the market for a heavy-duty, stainless steel soup kettle. Otherwise, I will content myself with knowing that we, as a nation, are a step closer toward health care security for all citizens and that we have a president who cares about things like clean energy and the yawning disparity between the rich and everybody else.
To reach Barbara Shelly, call 816-234-4594 or send email to bshelly@kcstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @bshelly.
Mark Robertson
6 months, 1 week agoProving once again that liberals aren’t funny. (See Lee Judge.) Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
Michael Morgan
6 months, 1 week agoSo you thought this was trying to be funny? I just thought she was right. As for funny, two words: Stewart and Colbert. Very funny, and probably helped sway the election. As for conservatives? Not funny….just losers. And if they don’t learn from this (and I hope they do since we need at least TWO national parties) they will just keep losing.
Sharon Pike
6 months, 1 week agoDidn’t know we now pick our leader based on what Comedy Central postulates on. Wow can wait to sit back and see how this turns out…again.
Joe Allen
6 months, 1 week agoYour gift will be $4 trillion of new debt over 4 years and borrowing most of it, hundreds of billions in new interest payments, and inaction by the President and others to actually, really, truly reduce spending at the federal level (not just reducing the increase in spending which doesn’t reduce the size of government) and a few more presents that will not be fun to accept.
William R Irwin
6 months, 1 week agoI don’t read Ms Shelly. I’m a long-time independent and I live out in California where the liberal Democrats are destroying a state in real time. So I’m not much for the liberal line. But I thought Ms Kelly’s comments were both humorous (not funny, that’s something different)and telling. I think Obama’s domestic economic policies are wrongheaded and destructive in the long term. But the article helps me understand why Pres Obama was re-elected. Romney’s post-election comments reveal him to be a smaller man than I thought, and I guess the majority of the voters saw this better than I did.
Tony Wichowski
6 months, 1 week agoYour gift is, you get a President who thinks with his mind, rather than with his gut or his bible. Or worse, thinks that a man in Utah, who calls himself a “Prophet”, speaks directly for Mormon God from Planet Kolob.
Robin Glasco
6 months, 1 week agoI’m still waiting also. I receive nothing but my union pension, I’m sure it was paid for by the government some way and not the companies I worked for, so that must make me part of the 47%. I see McCain is still playing politics, trying to block Rice. When will these free loaders start doing their jobs and try to compromise and solve problems?
Erik Martin
6 months, 1 week agoCheck what’s happened to your retirement investments since the election. Check again on 1/1/2013 when the obamacare laws take effect on employers. You will find your gift.
Alice J. Mahoney
6 months, 1 week agoThanks everyone - I received my Christmas present early… early on Wednesday morning, Nov. 7th…
Ab Cde
6 months, 1 week agoYour gift is the deficit, the Obama-Care Tax, the current price of gasoline, the jobless rate. Do you want more.
Brandt Hardin
6 months, 1 week agoWill we ever see bipartisan politics in our country again? The fringe element within the Republican Party has pushed them all to the far right of the isle where they’ve gridlocked our government for two years now. Will the next two be any different? They’ve been very public about their main goal being to block and bamboozle the President’s every move. It takes many hands to paint the Blackface on Obama. See my visual report of his makeup session at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/10/bamboozling-obama.html
Phil Cardarella
6 months, 1 week agoObviously, Mitt did not understand that there were not enough multimillionaires to elect him when he promised them a gift of a 20% tax cut from their already low tax rates.
After all, everyone at his fundraisers qualified. (Except for the waiters, of course. They were just furniture carrying drink trays — and a videotaper! Happy 47%, Mitt!)
It is interesting that there is no “Romney Wing” of the GOP. He bought a nomination by tossing clowns out of the car one by one — and the GOP was lucky to have him of the bunch!
You cannot alienate everyone who is not old, wealthy and white and hope to win an election — other than Governor of Utah.
J Ndifor Moma
6 months, 1 week agoI believe mr. Romney should stop making excuse or explanation why he lost the 2012 presidential election. There is just one answer; he has not got what it takes to be a leader of a nation. He may be successful as a businessman to a firm which in my opinion is still questionable. In general, the Rep. party needs to go on a retreat else they will find it difficult henceforth to win a presidential election.
Charles Purvis
6 months, 1 week agoActually Barb, your vote went to waste. Your state’s electoral votes went to Romney.
Pete Landers
6 months, 1 week agoI hear ya, Barb. As a white man of a certain age, I am aware that I voted to pay higher taxes to try to save our country. Apparently I was not among the majority of other white guys my age. But then, a majority of them also didn’t willingly join the service during Nam. They don’t think in a patriotic way, they think with their wallets. But they lost this time, so Hallelujah!
Stephen Platt
6 months, 1 week agoBarb, the article I read said the “gifts” were for Hispanics, Blacks, young women, and low income earners.
Please indicate what group you are in.
You can get half off on your “my two dads support Obama” baby onesie at the store.barackobama.com and get FREE shipping.
Mark Hastert
6 months, 1 week agoMy Gift? Listening to all the whiny losers……priceless!
JR Beillenhouser
6 months, 1 week agoBarb - your gift is that you don’t have to do any real work again for the next 4 years. There is nothing negative you have to report on about the current administration. You just have to carry your Obama water every several days or so and do your Orwellian double speak. Congrats, your earned it for KC Pravda.
Mark Hastert
6 months, 1 week agoOh lamentations! Whoa is us! Final death spirals! Pravda! Are these guys for real?
David Graham
6 months, 1 week ago0
Alice J. Mahoney
6 months, 1 week ago‘Your gift is the deficit, the Obama-Care Tax, the current price of gasoline, the jobless rate. Do you want more.’
This “gift” was received from the Bush time…. you can not begin to fix in 3.5 years what the Bush administration killed in 8 years….
Yanwen Xia
Overland Park
6 months, 1 week agoIt is a sad day, at least that’s how I feel when I read about Romney’s explanation. I used to feel sorry for Mitt Romney, for his shattered white house dream, for his failed attempts at public office. I used to place blame more on his party than on himself as I thought he was a decent good guy. Now he wiped out whatever good impression that I once had. Now I see the true reason for his repeated failure. I would say, “Mitt Romney, if you look at the mirror, you will find the person who is responsible for your failure.”
Mark Hastert
6 months, 1 week agoGosh these guys are good for endless entertainment! They have a thousand excuses for why they sucked and lost. They should read the editorial on Red State or listen to what Bobby Jindal had to say today. It’s not as comforting as excuses but it would help them get over themselves.
All of you who were blogging here four years ago about Obama’s one term? Wrong! And two weeks ago about Romney’s 300+ electoral vote win? Wrong again. And now? Ahem…Here’s a bet I’ll make with you. Obama and Boehner will strike a bargain and the sequesters will be averted. Taxes will go up on the 2% but they’ll call it something that will save face for Boehner et al. We will make advances on bringing the debt to bay and Grover will just have to deal with it. Obamacare will be the law of the land.
Ya wanna know why? Because the Republican party needs to be for something and can’t survive if it’s perceived to be obstructionists without any legislative effectiveness. And in two years the Tea Party will be relegated to the backwaters of conservativism. Any takers?????
I really wish you’d taken me up on my prior offers. I’d really have liked that scotch.
Steven Fetter
66223
6 months, 1 week agoThis guy’s received his.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFke1xOaTEA
Rich Donovan
6 months, 1 week agoSo you voted and now you’re not sure what you’re gonna get? Instead of sound fiscal policies I guess a soup kettle will suffice. Well, join the rest of the sheepeople who also voted with no idea what they were going to get, either. You’re going to get another 4 years that mirror the previous 4. You remember those four , don’t you- credit rating downgraded, unemployment up, household income do…..aww forget it. You’re going to get an Obama Phone!
Mark Hastert
6 months, 1 week agoSo, thus far since the election the Republicans have called the majority of voters “stupid” ,”bought”, “sheep”, and any number of other disdainful pejoratives. Add that to the insults from before the election and you’ve got a sure fire winner.Now that’s the way to ensure a democrat government.
I stand by my earlier predictions. The Republican party will come around and find for common sense solutions with the President…..and marginalize their kooks. It’s OK guys, you’ll always have a place to vent here. You’re very entertaining.
Phil Cardarella
6 months, 1 week agoHere is the gift we got:
Mitt Romney started out as a privileged bully who led a group of young thugs in an attack on a gay student at his school — and ended his public career with a concession speech — during which the credit cards of his campaign workers were de-activated — leaving some of them stranded in downtown Boston.
Obama’s gift? Beating Romney. We dodged a bullet when this humanoid lost.
Mark Hastert
6 months agoThat’s ‘ol JR for you. Always ready with a fresh pejorative. That’s how you know a conservative has lost the argument. Whenever that happens I want to smoke a cigarette, stare up at the ceiling and enjoy the afterglow.