I guess when congress is out of town for summer vacation, and there is a lull in the political activity around DC, the "slow news" syndrome hits. Today was not the most dynamic day in the history of the Sunday news shows.

There were a few things worth mentioning. I guess the one that really sticks in my mind is Michelle Bachmann actually saying in a speech that if she is elected president she will have the gas prices down to 2 bucks a gallon within a year. WOW!

I didn't hear anyone discuss exactly how she is going to do that. But seems to me that if something that extreme were to happen it would require some pretty serious governmental intervention. But I thought Bachmann was for smaller government? That kind of promise is so ludicrous that I guess that is how it got on the news shows and mentioned first by me. It's really outrageous. Hopefully the American people are not
THAT gullible.

The next two things had to do with Obama. First, most everyone was yawning about Obama's up and coming speech about jobs which will happen sometime in September. People are sick of commissions, plans, and speeches that never accomplish anything, and there is fear that this is just another one of those cases.

But it did come up more than once by the democrat talking heads that there is discussion in the white house about whether Obama should continue to play conservative and work toward any kind of incremental gains that he might be able to make with the republicans, or, conversely, he should come up with a bold, progressive plan that could create a lot of jobs but lower the deficit, even if the republicans would shoot down right away. Personally, I don't think Obama has gained much trying to work with the republicans.

The third issue that got my attention is whether or not it was a good idea for the Obamas to take a vacation on Martha's Vinyard. I have to say that I am in the camp that thinks a vacation is fine, and the Martha's Vinyard trip probably isn't enough to keep him from getting re-elected. But, if Obama wants to build a rapport as the spokesperson for the working class, he can't, at very crucial times, act like one of the wealthy elite. It's like the guy is addicted to having one foot in being a republican and one in a democrat. Not sure if that is sustainable. We will see.

I read an interesting but potentially foreboding opinion page in the newest Newsweek magazine. I can't remember the dude's name - but it wasn't one that i readily recognized. But the message was one that I think Obama should note - that he has disappointed the democratic base enough so that he should not run for a second term, and instead, let Hillary Clinton be the candidate. I'm not ready to go there yet. But I hear what the guy has to say, and I think the Prez should too.