Senator Sherrod Brown is someone I've had the pleasure of meeting a couple of times - both at my place of employment (all too briefly) and at Congress in Washington, DC, where we had a quick chance to speak Russian / Bulgarian to each other. He's a hardworking, yet super nice guy who happens to not be related to me, I promise, though do you think he'd mind if I started calling him "Uncle Sherrod?!" :-)
He's a great senator - my senator (OUR senator) - who champions the people of Ohio rather than their companies' CEOs who send our jobs out of state and out of country. Since both he - and President Obama - have been in office, Ohio's unemployment rate has fallen to 7.4% (April 2012), well below the national average of over 8%.
The challenge? Fallout from the Citizen's United Supreme Court decision. He's being ridiculously outspent in his current re-election campaign by nearly 5-1. He's being outspent by people who will never vote for him - not because they oppose him (which they do) - but instead because they are not even from Ohio and are therefore ineligible to vote for him. Karl Rove and his SuperPac are spending millions of dollars here in Ohio to campaign against him simply because they can. Citizen's United.
Here's a clip of a recent interview Senator Brown gave on The Rachel Maddow Show.
Do we really want our elections to be controlled by people who will not even vote in them? Do we want people who don't even have to live in this country to have such a huge say in the outcome of this country's elections? I thought we were a republic where each person had a voice. Well now, the voice is centering around the small handful of people who have not been hurt by this current - great - recession. It is centering around those who have already recovered because they were bailed out by our tax dollars.
Remember Democrats - remember what we as a party did in 2010? We pouted and a lot of you (yes YOU - since *I* made it a point to show up at the polls) stayed home and didn't bother to vote. We do that again and the Republicans won't HAVE to legislate more disenfranchisement around the country because we'll do the work FOR them.
Sure, President Obama may not be the most liberal president in the world that you HOPED he would be, but he's a damn fine president who's getting a lot accomplished in SPITE of Republican obstructionism - primarily in the form of filibustering every piece of legislation presented - more than in any - other - president's - term - of - office. Ever. Think of what he'll be able to accomplish in a second term.
Sure, President Obama may not be the most liberal president in the world that you HOPED he would be, but he's a damn fine president who's getting a lot accomplished in SPITE of Republican obstructionism - primarily in the form of filibustering every piece of legislation presented - more than in any - other - president's - term - of - office. Ever. Think of what he'll be able to accomplish in a second term.
Of course, he won't have a second term if you stay home pouting again.
Do you really want to give the victory to Mitt Romney? I don't think you do, but stay home again and you will.
So - make sure you get off your butt and vote this time around! If the Republicans get back in the White House, everything that led to this great recession will happen all over again. Despite the fact that the Republican Saboteurs are putting the fate of this nation second to their own political agenda, what we progressives are accomplishing now is far, far better than what would ever happen under a Romney administration.
You voted for President Obama because you didn't like the "all or nothing" attitude of former President George W. Bush, yet you expect that very same "all" from President Obama? And we call Republicans hypocrites?
While I don't think that example of hypocrisy can even begin to compare to that of the Republicans, I do think that we should all start right here in Ohio and make sure we help re-elect Senator Sherrod Brown so he doesn't lose to a guy who doesn't even show up to his current job. I'd already be fired if I had that kind of attendance record, so let's not reward Mr. Josh Mandel by promoting him. Let's instead reward Senator Brown for doing the great job he's been doing by giving him another six years to do even more.
Do you really want your senator to miss votes? No - you want a senator who's going to show up to work every day and fight for you - a citizen of Ohio - and for the entire nation - not just for the small handful who bought the election.
Senator Sherrod Brown is that kind of senator. Don't let his job be bought and paid for by those who can't even vote in this senatorial election.
Vote.
