by The day after it was declared that President Obama was re-elected, I stopped getting e-mails from family about why he shouldn’t be re-elected and started getting e-mails about why it just wasn’t fair that he was re-elected — that it was only because the race was about “unimportant” issues like rape and women’s rights instead of the only important issue — the economy. If the race had only been run on the basis of the economy issue, I believe that President Obama still would have won, because he had an economic plan that was not the exact same one that got us deep in trouble in the first place.
Another reason that the economy would have won President Obama re-election is because of the automobile industry bailout which President Obama supported and Governor Romney did not. It is entirely possible that had the industry not been bailed out, the one in eight Ohio residents that have auto work would not be employed in the industry any more.
In an advertisement that was run on television, there was an implication that Chrysler was going to shut down its American plants and move them all to China, and that this meant that the bailout was a failure. The only problem with this advertisement was that it was completely misleading and mostly untrue. It was so untrue that Chrysler took to their blog to completely refute the claims.
Incidentally — and this could be its own article but for now let me reflect on it here — it is interesting to see the kind of comments that have been left on that blog post. Half of them clearly did not read what was written or, despite clearly stating that jobs were not being lost or exported, asked if that was what would be. One commenter clearly did not understand that the blog writer’s explanation that a factory would be built in China to satisfy local demand meant that the Jeeps built at that factory were being built for people living in China, not for export. It is more cost efficient for Chrysler to build Jeeps in China for the Chinese market than to build them elsewhere and transport them to China.
As we have seen, the election proved well that you can lie repeatedly on television and spend hundreds of millions of dollars attempting to spread those lies, but still lose the election. One in eight Ohio resident knew going to the voting booth who was in favor of their bailout and who was not.
Why does your family continue to send you anti-Obama emails when they must know by now you really are not interested in entertaining their Right Wing fantasies?
That’s just how they work, David! I actually like getting them, though — it helps me to know what nuttiness people are actually thinking out there.
Do you reply to them with logic and the truth, or do you just passively read?
If it’s debunkable, I reply with sources and explanation. If it’s just rhetoric, there’s nothing you can say to combat it other than “Where is the logic and truth here? This is just rhetoric.”
I’ve often wondered how your family stood on such issues given your heritage. Thank you for the update.
My father says that as long as I am happy, he is happy.