I don't need to spend much time, if at all, explaining what the image above means, what it references, or what the above speaker said. But for those who have been in a cave for the last few days all I will say is that Clint Eastwood spoke at the Republican National Convention in Tampa this past week and that yes he is indeed talking to a chair. The imaginary person in that chair is supposed to be President Obama and Eastwood tried to give him the business. The resulting speech was a incoherent mess, filled with odd moments and poor choices of words. It was a misstep by the RNC, Romney's camp, and Mr. Romney himself. One which I am sure all parties wish they could take back.
Over the last several days I have been thinking over this idea of an empty chair and the symbolism it could represent. I started to think who could be a theoretical person sitting in that chair, what they would want to hear, what their fears are, their concerns, their hopes. Then this past Sunday morning on one of the political talking head shows one of the commentators came to the same idea I had. An idea that I am going to share with you now.
Let's start by taking Obama out of Mr. Eastwood's empty chair. The President has far better things to do than deal with a tongue lashing from the likes of Eastwood. Now let's instead put into that chair people representing the middle class and poor in America, all those people who are struggling right now due to the economic downturn. Let's establish that struggling is not missing a trip to Martha's vineyard, or putting off buying one more luxury car. No, struggling is not paying your mortgage, having trouble feeding your kids, having trouble providing for basic needs.
To be more clear, let's put in that chair any one of the following: An elderly man or woman, who is ill but does not want to go into a nursing home for care and would prefer to be cared for by their children or family, a single mom who is working 2-3 jobs just to pay her bills, keep her house from being foreclosed, and putting some food on the table, a recent college graduate who has substantial student loan debt and is working at a Mcdonalds, making much less than they should, due to them being unable to find a job in their field of study, a family who is bankrupt due to their child having cancer, and a baby boomer who is coming closer and closer to retirement age, but is unsure if they can afford to retire. From this point forward when I refer to the empty chair, it is people like these to which I refer.
The above is but a small cross section of the middle class and poor in this country. There are many, many more examples I could use. But the point is this: Everyone in the middle class and poor is suffering right now. Everyone is having a hard time making ends meet and particularly having trouble providing for the basic needs of themselves or those they are charged with providing for. These are the people who turn out to vote and many of them are scared. Many of them feel alone, they don't have much hope for the future and only see things getting worse from here. They look to government to help them, they look to their leaders to provide leadership, true leadership. But no true leader has stood up, no true leader has revealed himself. The empty chair is left with just two pretenders.
As of this writing, neither President Obama or Mr. Romney have told the American People, in clear terms, what their plan is for the country. Neither of them has given any solid idea what they are going to do to help put this country back on the right track. Neither has been clear on anything to this point, both speaking in vague terms and then changing their positions weekly (ahem Mr. Romney ahem).
The empty chair is angry. The empty chair just wants straight answers. Both the President and Mr. Romney need to stop playing politics and start being honest and straightforward. We as a country are in collectively one of the worst positions we have been in since the great depression. The time for games is over. We have serious problems in this country and they require serious answers. I don't believe it is naive of me, nor for those in the empty chair, to ask for their leaders to be straight with them.
No one expects either of these gentleman to alone fix the problems we face. It is unrealistic to imagine either of these gentleman singlehandedly restoring this country. The problems we face will require all of us to work together, Democrat and Republican, toward a shared goal and/or goals. But we can't begin to do that until we have a clear idea what that goal or goals are. That is the responsibility of our leaders and primarily those at the very top, The President being one of them.
The President and Mr. Romney need to start talking to the empty chair. They need to tell them what they are going to do to help them. What are they going to do about taxes? Will they repeal the Bush tax cuts? Will they raise taxes further on the most wealthy? Will they keep the middle class tax cut? How will they stimulate the middle class to spend again? What will they do to create jobs? How will they cut spending and what is the timetable? How will they fix health care? What will they do about the corporate tax rate? Immigration? The still depressed housing market? And the list goes on....
Can you tell me what either of these gentleman are going to do about any one of the above issues? No. Well neither can I and that is the problem. The time for political posturing, needless backbiting, and outright mudslinging is over. It is time the empty chair demands more of the candidates for President. It is time the empty chair demands to be heard and their concerns be addressed honestly by both candidates.
The President will have his opportunity this week to address the empty chair and to make his intentions for the country clear at the Democratic Convention in Charlotte. I do hope sincerely that he takes advantage of it. That he realizes truly what is at stake and that he needs to change the way things are done. That he needs to inspire people again, like he did four years ago, and excite people again about what this country can do when united and how great we can become.
Unfortunately my money is on him not doing any of that. Which indeed saddens me quite a bit. But he is a pretender.
In closing I will say that the candidate who figures out how to talk to the empty chair. the one to lay out a clear roadmap for America, will be the one to win the Presidency. The empty chair is tired of being ignored, tired of being lied to, and tired of being marginalized. It is time for the empty chair and those it represents to finally be noticed and taken seriously. The empty chair is waiting. Will a real leader please stand up?
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