It always sounds so warm and good when he talks, at least until you think through the details.

He makes it sound like everything is on the upswing when in fact it's still going down at a rate faster than the "experts" predicted.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090904/bs_nm/us_usa_economy_34

94% to 9.7% and an additional quarter million people out of a job, including friends if mine.

Isn't down still down, isn't worse still worse?

He makes it sound like the government will swoop in and take care of us all, it's just talk, a way of bumping the poll points a bit, it's the same talk you'd hear from any president. But when you get right down to it, the power to make things better is not in the governments hands, it never was, or will be.

The real solution lies in the hands of the individual. The individuals ability to hoist themselves up off their own behinds and find a way to use their unique talents and abilities to carve out a life for themselves, even in times of high unemployment. It is times like these that are ripe for the entrepreneur to get something started. The Phoenix rising from the ashes. It is this self motivation that has brought America to it's best times. What many people just don't understand is that honest people doing what they love almost always makes the world a better place for everyone.

People like you, the self employed American doing what he or she loves is what will restore America. But don't be surprised if some government official with some program stands on a soap box and proclaims that they did it.

My wife is a self employed writer, and yes, government has sort of forgotten about her level of business, except of course at tax time.

My best friend is a self-employed RMT and she has the same problem.

You want Obama to say how bad things are, and how much we should still be afraid, and how so much is still so very, very wrong with everything about the way things are.

Yep, that's a great idea. It worked so well for making the Carter administration into a resounding two term success story.

I guess I -- as a single, childless, self-employed renter -- am not American enough to warrant any return on that collective responsibility Obama speaks of, even though I work hard and meet my responsibilities.

It's the same in most countries, I think. I'm a single, childless, self-employed sort-of-owner (housing association, a bit like your condo). There's an interest group for singles, though I'm not a member; it wants two buddies traveling together, for example, to get the same discount as two spouses/registered partners.

We self-employed all feel that our government doesn't love us. It loves only public-sector employees and big companies whom it can schmooze with. I belong to a party that is into small business and entrepreneurship, as well as other good stuff like greenery. We're into the last week of an election campaign now; I was on a stand and this guy asks us about our family policy. We don't have one; we only believe in individuals. :-)

It's funny that you say that, Grinebiter, because last time my most recent employer changed our health benefits, it was obvious from one of my married co-workers' reaction that she was more screwed by the incoming system because she was a working parent than she would have been if she was still single and childless.

But then the grass is always greener...yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Plus it's hard to imagine any politician anywhere having a long political career while running on a "Families Suck" platform.

I can't speak to your Byzantine health system, Tonio, because I live in a socialist system where medical care and employers never meet. You get sick, you go to hospital, you pay zero point zip, end of story. The doctor doesn't care who your employer is, or even whether you have one. Much the same applies to marital status,

You've given me an idea. I'm too lazy to be a politician, so maybe I'll run on a "Families Suck" platform, have a very short career, and retire.

A "Families Suck" platform in the United States often leads to a long and lucrative political career. True, you can't openly state that as your platform. But the economic policies that vastly enrich corporations, while ripping apart families and communities, have created many long term career opportunities in both of America's major political parties.

He asked about your family policy? WTF does that even mean? I like your response though, ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer.

@Josh. He might have meant policy on day-care centres, or something to do with tax; but it could also have been code for opposing gay marriage, on the strange grounds that gays somehow threaten hetero families. (A prominent soi-disant philosopher here is suing the State for invalidating her own marriage via its enactment of gay unions....) In the first case, let him ask specifically; in the second place, let him go away. The F word makes me tetchy, and don't get me started on the way "Family Values" is displacing "ethics".

@Victor: LOL, very true.