Thinking of Bobby Kennedy’s real passion during his ‘68 campaign for the American worker highlights exactly why our candidates - and our next president - needs to pay some serious attention to the plight of Americans, especially those of the working and middle class.

Yet everybody better start paying attention to the American worker, who is greater in debt (less and less see any relief from debt outside of bankruptcy or death), more likely to have to work two jobs or more just to survive, less likely to receive appropriate and timely health care, and under greater measures levels of clinical depression, fatigue, and stress than ever before. See my next (up) post.

New studies show Americans across the board (rather than pockets of wild wealth in a sea of people who have relatively little to nothing in comparison) are doing much worse financially than their European peers, AND that both our height and life expectancy is turning from new longevity to a shortening (yes, we’re living less longer and no longer growing as tall as our European neighbors, which is believed due to our harsh working schedule, bad diet, and far less accessibility to health care since most civilized nations have some type of universal access to care).

Oh, and our infant mortality rate is on its way back up. Not good.

Interestingly, the beginning of the “change” we’re seeing in less health for Americans dates back to about 1982. Hmmm… Reagan was in office, and advocating an economy that allowed for a handful of rich fatcats with the rest forced to buy his bumper sticker foreign policy. Much of the rule since 1982 has been Republican. Coincidence?

It was 40 years ago today that Robert F. Kennedy, having just won the California Democratic Party Primary (a huge deal) and on his way to speak with hotel workers in the hotel’s kitchen, was shot, mortally wounded, and subsequently died. This, just two months following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

What many of us are too young to remember is that Bobby was probably the last major national candidate who embraced workers and their plight most seriously. Yes, Ralph Nader has done in on third party ballots. John Edwards was doing it until he was forced to suspend his campaign late in the winter just as Howard Dean, who also stood with workers, had done four years before after the “yeehaw” heard round the world from the Iowa primary.

See my next post (up) for why this matters so much now, why we need to look at what’s happening to Americans and how to halt the damage.

The media has waited with baited breath - and a volume of verbiage the world has rarely seen outside of coverage of Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears’ crotches - for Hillary to do her concession bit and for the two to hug and cry together. But they’re not giving that to us - at least, not yet. And either way, it’s OK.

I don’t want this to be a presidency driven solely by sound bytes and carefully crafted media images. I don’t expect two people who’ve fought so hard for their own campaigns (or the myriad thousands who’ve labored for them) to sudden love each other and make nice.

I don’t want Hillary Clinton named VP (and I think any announcement there will come much closer to the convention, if not at the convention itself in late August in Denver) simply because she was “the other candidate.” If there’s a better person for the Obama Democratic ticket, then I want that person considered. We’re not into legacies here, unless it’s the legacy for ALL of America, and not for a relatively privileged few (named Bush or Clinton or Kennedy, et al).

But what we need most of all is for the American people to unite in an understanding that the way ahead is tough regardless of how we go: that we may have to accept a period of increased hardship to try to get this nation - and the world that watches it - back on track. We’re already hurting; we can probably survive a little more.

And unlike the Bush-McCain technique, we need to take care of America’s working and middle classes through good education, job training, health care, and so much more. The Bush-McCain technique is to give and give to the wealthiest, and the rest have to wait til it trickles down the inner leg of the fatcat Republican peeing gold.

Just how many McCain finance chairman, etc., have either had to step down or pretend they don’t hear the questions being asked about their participation in the ironically-entitled Straight Talk Express?

Far, far too many.

For Dems and perhaps for most of the country, the biggest enemy we face isn’t Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, maybe not even al Qaeda. It’s the threat of a McCain Administration that would continue the loathful, lousy work of the Bush Admin (aka Dewey, Cheatem, and How!).

As I’ve noted before, John Edwards was my horse in the race which surprised even me, since while I found him likeable in 2004, I wasn’t a fan. It was how he changed in talking about America and what we need that sold me early on him.

But, while there are a good many of us former Edwards’ followers, I’m not at all sure what his endorsement of Obama will ultimately mean, if anything. For one thing, he’s been out of the arena (except for brief forays) for a few months, and time may have dissipated some of his base and the general population’s interest in him. For another, he along with Al Gore and a few others, have been providing behind-the-scenes information sharing and policy discussion for about as long as this race has been down to just Clinton and Obama.

I suspect, ultimately, that Edwards may not do huge things for Obama - or cost Hillary much either - but I’d love to see Obama’s platform include more of what Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, offered. Yes, including taking all health care benefits away from Capitol Hill until they offer a real solution to all Americans getting basic health care.

You have to hand it to the MSM: they yelled even louder for Hillary Clinton to drop out of the Democratic Party race for presidential nomination after she won West Virginia as they did before.

While I still feel very put off by the senator’s comments about “hard working” “white people” and how she made it sound a bit like “dumb people love me”, I’m with her when she says that the major race will be over in about three weeks, that she’s paid her money and now she should be able to play until the race ends.

Really. Aren’t there far more critical issues than whether Hillary steps aside now? Even “little, insignificant issues” like world food shortages, how the government’s only response to the foreclosure crisis - that keeps escalating btw - is to tell people to have good credit to get new mortgages (helpful when no one can afford to live), and that our health care system is failing almost as fast as the American dollar and our housing market.

That seems to sum up presumed Republican presidential nominee John McCain’s position on the health care crisis in this country when he spoke at an event yesterday where he was introduced by - what else? - a leading health insurance industry lobbyist and went on to say you could just save your money for health care and pay for it yourself.

Right.

I’m waiting to hear his announcement that we can cut a whole $20 out of the more than half of every American tax dollar that goes to the Pentagon by having combat soldiers take part-time second jobs so they can pay for their own bullets. And I wish I were simply joking.

With each new economic poll, more and more Americans express real concern about the economy and their declining ability to meet their financial obligations with fast-escalating food, fuel, housing, and medical costs when their paychecks haven’t shown any significant lift throughout most of the Bush Administration.

From Reuters:

More than half of U.S. doctors now favor switching to a national health care plan and fewer than a third oppose the idea, according to a survey published on Monday.

The survey suggests that opinions have changed substantially since the last survey in 2002 and as the country debates serious changes to the health care system.

Of more than 2,000 doctors surveyed, 59 percent said they support legislation to establish a national health insurance program, while 32 percent said they opposed it, researchers reported in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

So the larger question here: Is John McCain offering anything that the American people actually want?

As I sat battling the entire long weekend with pesky hardware problems among two different PC systems in addition to household leaks following some record snowfall all while experiencing the joy of feeling my glands swell and my nose turn raw while I also reviewed my tax returns, I couldn’t help but think that if misery loves company, I’ve got a multitude of new pals.

Sure, some Americans are having a decent time of it, but that percentage is literally dropping more everyday. Even among those who identify themselves as mostly maintaining their current living standard in one of the roughest prolonged financial “repressions” in the last century, many agree that not only is the U.S. in trouble economically, but our mental state is suffering, too.

In the last decade, we’ve seen one big change after another; most of them pretty awful. For example, we’re now seeing our first generations in recent American history where working adults are NOT making more than their parents did; where there is grave concern that what little “universal” health care we currently enjoy - Medicare for seniors and Medicaid for poorer kids - is failing badly.

Not since the Great Depression of the late 1920s-1930s have so many Americans:

Considering so much of this picture has become grim under the Republicans’ watch, how can ANYONE even consider voting for a McCain or a Huckabee in November? As a Democrat, I’m not sure my candidate can bring about enough of a change as quickly as our country needs but I’ll take that concern over choosing one of the GOP disasters.

John McCain: “I do not believe in mandates. I believe that every American should have affordable and available health care and I’d like to talk just an additional minute about that. But I’m not going to mandate that they do. I want every American to have affordable and available education. But I’m not going to mandate that they do. I want everyone to have affordable housing but I’m not going to mandate they do.”

The sharp-shooter of the presidential race wants all of us to know that we’re not going to have everything handed to us. Yeah, we need health care, education, and a roof over our heads, but we have to stop being lazy and do it ourselves. Should the government take care of people who work two jobs, have trouble paying rent, and still can’t afford to go to the doctor? Of course not! It’s their own fault!

On the topic of health care, the problem isn’t that we don’t have a system. It just doesn’t work effectively. A person has to meet certain requirements to receive Medicare/Medicaid. If someone doesn’t meet the requirements, they might not have a choice. They just won’t go to the doctor. America needs a health care system that takes care of everybody.

Sometimes people do need to take their own initiatives instead of relying on somebody else. Such as having the initiative to be hard-working. But telling disparate people that are overworked and underpaid that they’re still going to have to struggle just to have a place to live and good medical care isn’t fair. And I think that the majority of Americans will agree.

If I had to sum up my reaction to the South Carolina Democratic debate Monday night in just one sentence, I would paraphrase what contender John Edwards said, “Excuse me, there are three people in this debate, not TWO and with all this squabbling, how many kids will be able to get health care or go to college because of this meanness.”

Not only did this become a Hillary-Barack slugfest with their behavior along with how debate host CNN’s Wolf Blitzer handled it, but the media after the fact seemed to ignore that Edwards was even present. Most of the clips of it shown offered no glimpse, much less a soundbyte, from the former North Carolina senator.

The relatively few who DID notice Edwards was there, like Keith Olbermann on MSNBC’s Countdown, noted that he came out as the soul of reason, the only one who realizes this isn’t about Hillary or Barack or even himself, but a nation filled with hurting people who can no longer afford their mortgages, their health insurance, or to be guaranteed a decent education for their kids. As Newsweek’s Howard Fineman pointed out with Keith, if Clinton-Obama fights like this continue for the next month, Edwards is almost guaranteed to come out ahead of both of them put together.

Finally, the media was far more focused on the arguments between the woman candidate and the black candidate, making it sound like it was just wrong. As a pacifist and as someone who rarely feels she learns much from arguing, I’d agree. However, the media ONLY looks at Clinton and Obama and the fighting, giving almost NO attention to harsh words exchanged between Republican candidates or many of the lies the GOP runners tell about the Democrats as well as their own voting/business history. Given how the media presents this stuff, how can we possibly trust their overall analysis? Hell, they didn’t give Mike Huckabee this kind of heat when he came out a few times last week to declare that the U.S. Constitution must be completely rewritten to document the word and laws of His God - something that affects all of us a HELL of a lot more than whether Hillary and Barack love each other or engage in verbal smackdowns.

The TV talking heads sure seem in a hurry to narrow down the presidential nominee field which seems almost totally exclusive to Democrats, while a few of the piss-poor-showing Republicans, included among them those with big bucks, do not appear to be subjected to the same rush despite their poorer showings.

Steve Benen at The Carpetbagger Report discusses the big question(s) before 2008 Dem presidential candidate (and John Kerry’s VP choice in the 2004 race), John Edwards, regarding whether it’s time for him to pack it in or continue on toward the Dem convention this summer which is what Edwards has said he will do.

As I’ve said, I’m undecided at this time. However, Edwards (along with Dennis Kucinich) comes closer to my “ideal” candidate than do Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who, IMHO, are too willing to make concessions I don’t like, don’t believe are good for the country in its current shape (which isn’t all that good). To me, both represent the DLC approach to Democrats which I find too much like middle ground Republicanism to help Democrats as a whole. If the Republicans don’t want to elect moderate Republicans, why should Dems do it for them?

Interestingly enough, I did NOT support Edwards in 2004 though I came to support the Kerry-Edwards’ ticket simply because Edwards was on it and I saw a progressive-ism growing in him that seemed utterly absent from Kerry. The Edwards running today is a much-changed man, I believe, from 2004 and I do NOT believe this is an act. John Edwards’ approach on universal health care, the working class, and so many other issues.

Right now, his campaign isn’t doing super great. But what’s strange is that he’s got at least half the delegates of Obama and Clinton WHILE, where Republicans like Thompson and Giuliani barely have a handful of delegates BETWEEN them, pundits aren’t shouting to push Fred and Rudy off the campaign trail as they are with Edwards. Why? What’s the difference? Could it be that Edwards is simply not “corporate money” enough for the DLC crowd while among Repugs, Rudy and Fred will definitely sell their souls?

What’s your take?

Gee, what a surprise; a Republican who wants to force his beliefs upon others. Who’d a thought? Mind you, there are many women doctors who will NOT undergo an ultrasound with their own pregnancies (except in extraordinary circumstances) because they question the “health” of doing so.

Women seeking an abortion would first have to undergo an ultrasound under a new bill proposed in Kentucky, reported Louisville, Ky., TV station WLKY.

Members of the Kentucky Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice in Louisville had a lot to say about the bill. They drove to Frankfort hoping to get more information about it, and hoping to convince the senator who sponsored the bill that it should not get passed at all.

“I think defeating it would be the best thing for the people of Kentucky, regardless of your feeling about abortion,” said coalition member Anne Maron.

The new bill would make it mandatory for doctors to perform an ultrasound on a woman seeking an abortion, provide an explanation of the results and provide the ultrasound images to the pregnant woman and review them with her.

“I want to make sure women understand fully what is happening if they get an opportunity to see the little fingers and toes of the baby that they’re thinking about aborting,” said state Sen. Jack Westwood.