Last night I came home from walking my dog, and I was so very tired.  And, so was my dog.  I went to sit down in my chair and lo' and behold, the chair cried out: “I’m not empty and we need to talk; I got some stuff I need to get off my chest.”    The voice coming from the chair said, “I know a lot of people thought that was President Obama that Clint was talking to in that chair the other night. Well, it wasn’t; it was me, Jack.”  

 “I’m the one that had a few choice words to tell Mitt,” said Jack. “I wanted to tell him, I’m not doing great, but I am doing a helluva lot better than I was before President Obama took office—and, I sure am sleeping  a lot better.” Jack began to give me and my dog a laundry list of reasons why he is able to close his eyes at night:

• “Four years ago, I was scared that I would go to my bank in the morning and there would be a sign on the door saying it was closed for business.  I resisted the urge to take every penny out of the bank and put it under my bed.  I resisted the urge to go out and buy gold bullions—mostly because I didn’t have that kind of money.”
• “Four years ago, I thought I was going to lose every cent of investment in my home because housing prices were dropping faster than Clint used to drop his pants back in the day.  The foreclosure signs are no longer popping up every month in my neighborhood and people are beginning to buy some of the foreclosed homes.”  
• “Four and a half years ago, my sister and her two children moved in with me because she lost her job. Thank goodness for the extended unemployment benefits or she would have lost her car, and her credit would have been so bad that she never would have gotten another decent job. She recently found a job. It isn’t the job she lost, but at least it’s not on its way overseas. ” 
• “Four years ago, I was shaking in my boots every time I traveled even on the subway; it wasn’t like they had captured Bin Laden. I know things are still happening, like them fellas plotting to kill the President right here at an Army base, but I sleep better knowing the Bin Laden is dead. You can’t hardly blame them fellas for trying to kill President Obama, especially if they been listening to FOX and them apocalypse commercials them companies been running. Yeah, I said companies; they know doggone well they ain’t no individuals.”
• “Four years ago, my 401k looked like I might be retiring on Social Security; it still bounces around but I ain’t crying myself to sleep every night.  I’m just glad my Social Security and Medicare wasn’t tied up in all that mess. If that had been the case, we would really be in a mess with no hope of climbing out—not even slowly. “
• "Four years ago, gas wasn't quite as high, but then we hadn't had the BP spill--which by the way could have been prevented if there was more oversight--something Mitt and Friends definitely do not want to see.  And, of course, compared to the prices in other countries, our gas is cheap.  Given the situation in the Middle East, one would think it would be higher. I ain't no college graduate or nothing, but I really think it is folly to have so many of our eggs in one basket."
• “Four years ago, I thought I my children might be drafted to fight in an unwarranted war— a war neither Mitt Romney nor his children would ever fight.”

I just sat there and in amazement as I listened to Jack—I thought Clint was pulling our leg when he was talking to the chair; I guess it was really Jack sitting in the chair.  My dog seemed mesmerized by this one-way conversation as well.  Jack rambled on saying, “I have to say that I am a little miffed about having to pay for my insurance; I was doing okay going to the Emergency Room the few times I got sick. Why should I pay for insurance, if I don’t have to?  Mitt don’t have to pay taxes; what’s the difference?  If I don’t pay then somebody else pays and if he doesn’t pay then somebody else pays.  I ain’t no fool.” 

 “I think they are right when they say President Obama has more in common with the me—sometimes I feel invisible just like Clint conveyed in his little performance the other night—just like they acknowledged with their laughter and applause.  But I am not invisible.  Just like that pretty, smart lady, Melissa Harris Perry said, I’m just as important to this economy as the Mitt Romney’s—there are millions of me and we are the makers and the consumers.  Without me, this economy doesn’t work and without them it doesn’t work.  The difference is, it’s harder for me to run overseas and take care of my family and I don’t have the resources to sit on the sidelines the way Mitt’s buddies have done for the last four years while our soldiers have been overseas dying for their freedoms.   It’s a shame and a scandal… an absolute disgrace—nothing to be applauded and praised.“

 Just about then, my dog jumped at the chair; I heard a faint sigh and all was quiet.  I guess Jack got all he needed to get off his chest.