We are being told by all parties concerned that if we don’t make this deal happen, we will all be living with in-laws, we will be dining in the back seats of our SUVs or worst yet cardboard boxes on the street. We are being told that this deal is being designed to give the country time to dig it self out of a hole and restore confidence in our ability to manage our economy. We are being told that this all has to be done expeditiously because foreign lenders won’t part with another peso until we can prove we are a worthy risk again.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans are trying their best to find a way to meet the demands of their masters seeking financial protection, while coming up with a line of bull to sell to the voting public and anybody still stupid enough to loan America money. Congressional stooges, lacking the knowledge, the ethics and discipline to protect the taxpayer, while Wall Street CEOs were allowed to run the country’s financial institutions like a back alley crap game, left America’s credit rating looking like someone with a 200 FICO score trying to buy a Maserati. America is now considered a bad risk in the eyes the nation’s creditors and few have any faith or patience left for American financial leadership; nor should they.

If we look carefully at how things have been mishandled on behalf of the country, you will see a very strong argument can be made for this bailout failing to stem the tide of bank failures and a possible total collapse of our economy.

With congress closing the bankruptcy window for Americans seeking relief, people are finding themselves in a very tight box with few options to ever get themselves back on their feet. Once again, fewer people working, means fewer people shopping, means fewer people needed in sales and service jobs, so even more are laid off. When an ugly cycle like this begins to feed it self, it is difficult to stop before all is consumed.

If Barack Obama had touched upon the above realities, he would have scored a knockout blow in the first round of these three debates. Had Obama brought to the debate the sad tales of people having to move in with family members, the domestic conflicts that develop when money is tight and the sense of hopeless that prevails during trying times, we think there would be no contest left between he and John McCain.

When they meet again, Barack Obama would be wise to drive the narrative towards the huge numbers of people that have lost their jobs. Sen. Obama should point out how many people now have no health care coverage, if in fact they had any before they lost their jobs. He should tell how many people were responsible in their finances but just had the misfortune of getting sick, with no means to pay their medical bills. What? Can’t pay your medical bills? Here come the collection agencies ready to take what is left on the carcass of your former life. And we need not mention having any dough set aside for retirement and college educations for our kids. Unless our leaders are able to fess up to all the real reasons we are faltering, then we are doomed to continue to fall until we all hit rock bottom. If America’s leadership refuses to acknowledge our true problems, believe us when we say America’s creditors are acknowledging them or us.

Pakistani troops and tribesmen open fire on two U.S. helicopters that crossed into the country from neighboring Afghanistan and continue to battle U.S. in the air and on the ground as they try to preserve their sovereignty.

North Korea kicks out U.N. nuclear inspectors.

If these headlines don’t ring a very loud bell sounding the alarm that foreign policy is still a major concern for the nation despite the overwhelming economic crisis that’s consuming the voter’s, the media’s and political leadership’s attention then we then are going to miss a golden opportunity to put Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John McCain and Sarah Palin to the rigorous test they need to take to find out if they have the smarts to walk and chew gum at the same time.

John McCain’s self-aggrandizing play to look like a leader, bailing out on his campaign to help with the bailing out of Wall Street may seem slick to some, but it is more revealing to us that McCain has difficulty managing more than one big task at a time. When an estimated 100 million viewers plan to tune in to determine which of these candidates is most qualified to lead in a time of multiple catastrophes Sen. McCain is leaving the stage for backroom negotiations.

With the advent of things like cell phones, the Internet, teleconferencing, and jet travel, it is hard for us to believe John McCain couldn’t find away to make himself available to whom ever needed his input without having to close down all campaign operations, stop all commercial runs, canceling out on tomorrow’s debate and leaving the nation without a means to properly evaluate both candidates standing side by side, as they try to convince America which presidential hopeful has the right stuff for this increasingly difficult job.

This is the best chance to see how these people will hold up under pressure when suddenly confronted with a quickly changing economic and geopolitical landscape. As Barack Obama correctly pointed out, a president may at any time be required to deal effectively with many problems at the same time. If these candidates are not capable of multi tasking at the highest levels, we need to know this now, not later.

Since we too agree the economy is a calamity in the making, we suggest the debate go on as scheduled, yet refocused to reflect both the economy and foreign policy. These candidates should be more than adequately prepared to answer any question put to them that concerns the safety and security of the American people. If the president needs McCain’s or Obama’s invaluable assistance, he can reach them via video-conferencing. Enough all ready with the symbolic gestures.

But we surmise John McCain is calling this play because he realizes he is not prepared to deal with more than one problem at the same time because he still lives in the age of licking stamps before mailing letters, using carrier pigeons and two tin cans with miles of string to place a call. When chided for being out of touch with how things work in this new millennium his handlers quickly respond with excuses of his war injuries. We say Bull Sh*t!; while offering Stephen Hawkins as our example of smart people overcoming physical challenges that far exceed John McCain’s limitation to stay connect to a changing world.

We can not afford to have anything but our best and brightest to bring the country back from the brink of collapse. In our opinion, John McCain and Sarah Palin are anything but our best and our brightest. In Palin’s second high profile interview with Katie Couric last evening, Palin struck out again with another moronic performance showing her ignorance on far to many topics for the nation to be satisfied she’s qualified to be anything more than the mayor of a small Alaskan town.

We can ill afford to be duped into accepting a package of manufactured story lines delivered by slick sales and marketing consultants with advance degrees in deception. We need really smart people to put their minds to work on the troubling issues before us right now, and no clever political moves to gain a momentary advantage or a needed nudge in the daily polls is very helpful to the voters.

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