Authenticity and the 2008 election

It seems that the pundits who are worth listening to (the PBS dudes who talk to Charlie Rose at 11 PM after the children are asleep) think that the only quality any presidential candidate must exhibit to win the US presidency is the power to connect to the everyday person. This makes sense on its surface, but only if you believe the everyday person is actually a voter!

I wish I knew the average American. I don't. I'm too long in the Northeast to recognize the lunchpail Democrats in Ohio as the biggest voting bloc, the ones Obama HAS to connect to, or even women over 50 as so terribly significant (and that's a category where I fit).

I don't recognize the description of rich which Obama gave at the Saddleback forum as over 250K (McCain said over 5MM). I live in Boston and I can figure out how to live on under 100K and still feel rich. I lived on under 12K thirty years ago and I shared space in Manhattan with a roommate and went to museums and outdoor music fairs. I always had plenty of food to eat.

Average Americans are rich by any standards in world terms, but we don't (want to) know it. The statistical comparisons are staggering. If Obama doesn't raise taxes (or Mc Cain) we won't have an infrastructure to leave our children. Our children and grandchildren are paying for a social security they will never get to use. It's time for America to get authentic about how rich and poor we are. We live in an unfair, unequal society and we must sober up from the silly stuff of this election. I think we can handle straight talk. and I think the way to connect to the average American (whoever that is) is to appeal to our sense of fairness and inherent appreciation of truth in the face of shared sacrifice.

I await hearing the details of the Democratic platform. Will it resemble the way we live or will it pander to the imaginary lunchpail people? These are not selfish isolated folk. They are "can-do" and they will follow a real leader. Are we ready to actually elect someone good, or just settle for a loser we deserve?