For over a year I have been watching the economy very closely, and watching the average American managing the best that they can with the cards that are being dealt on a day to day basis. We have had a sub-prime mortgage meltdown proceeding along for almost two years and watched the price of gasoline skyrocket even though Americans are using less in order to continue to feed their families. Yesterday, I was hearing Diane Feinstein speak about off-shore drilling on Fox and she asked why crude oil prices were still going up even though demand has gone down in the first six months of 2008 for the first time since 1991. Today the price of crude oil dropped $10 a barrel. This is the greatest dip in oil prices in 17 years according to MSNBC, settling at $6.44 off it’s opening price with a total of $138.74 a barrel.

According to this Canadian newspaper, National Post, the Fed’s new rules against predatory subprime lending won’t be enforced until October 1, 2009. Please keep that little fact in mind as you read the following excerpt.

House prices across 20 of the largest U.S. cities fell 15.3% over the year to April, with prices in the 10 largest cities falling by a record 16.3%, the most recent Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller home price index showed.

Meanwhile, the number of mortgage default notices, foreclosures and bank repossessions has soared by 53% since June, 2007, with one in every 501 households receiving a foreclosure filing in June, RealtyTrac figures showed on Thursday.

Mr. Shapiro said house prices would likely fall between 5% and 10% in the second half of 2008 and by about 10% in 2009.

“We don’t think that we’re near the bottom yet on a national basis,” he said.

I can already hear you saying that you do not need to be slapped silly with this kind of news, but I am getting to my point now. I mentioned in an earlier post that we are standing at the edge of an abyss. A financial maelstrom that is going to require immense fortitude, commitment, and leadership to contain and reign it in. We were heading this direction, but not as far along, when President Bill Clinton was elected and I think we all remember what happened with the deficit and the economy over the course of his eight years in the White House. Had there been another democrat elected in 2000, we may not have been standing here watching our economy suffer because of the greed of a few. A close friend, who was uncommitted in his presidential choice, asked me a year ago who I was going to vote for and why. My response? Hillary; the economy.

Please take a look at these videos and tell me who you think would show the kind of leadership and knowledge we ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE at this dark crossroad.

This:

or This:

and how about this:

and not to completely beat the point into submission:

Now, do you see the point? The difference between Obama reading words on a page that some speech writer probably wrote for him and not really knowing on an organic level what he is talking about and Senator Clinton knowing the subject backwards, forwards, inside-out and upside down is razor sharp when shown side by side. No wonder he did not want to debate her and does not want to debate McCain. The American public and the world will find out that he is not wearing any clothes.

Now personally, I do not give a hoot if the emperor wants to run around Chicago without any clothes, but I do care about putting someone in the White House who will know HOW to RESPOND to the current crisis that is a slow moving whirlpool, but is continually picking up speed by the moment, and dragging our country and us down with it.

With our vote, we are HIRING a person to be the leader of our country and the leader of the most powerful nation in the free world. We are hiring a person to hold the reins and do the job that is required, from the economy, the military and the war, education, health care, and beyond. Could it even be possible that people really think that a junior senator with 146 days in the Senate when he announced his candidacy is even capable of grasping the magnitude of the position and the responsibilities that come with it, or is this man a legend in his own mind?

Everyone has their own pet issue that they like to foster and care for, but let it be known, that America is a democratic capitalist country and the barometer for its strength is not the size of it’s military, it is the condition of it’s economy; like it or not.

I know I am not the only one still betting on Senator Clinton and I am asking for 165 more patriots at the Convention in August to have the courage to stand at the crossroads and help our country find shelter from the approaching hurricane by nominating Senator Hillary Clinton to be our nominee and the next President Of The United States.