Posted on 09/16/2004 10:38:28 AM PDT by qam1
Bill Clinton was a lucky dog.
In 1992, Clinton came to the Wisconsin Capitol on an October day so gorgeous that 30,000 people filled the south lawn. No one minded that he was very late and we had to hear from every local Democrat down to the secretary of the dog catchers union. (Now that we know Bill better, I wonder what he was up to while we waited.)
I flashed back to that day Wednesday because at the Clinton rally, I had a baby in a backpack. She was with me again Wednesday, a teenager all too happy to skip school to hear Sheryl Crow and, oh yeah, John Kerry.
Kerry just isn't lucky like Clinton. It rained on Kerry's rally, and it was moved from the Capitol to the sterile Alliant Center. But the Madison crowd was there, ready to feed off Kerry's energy the way they rocked to Clinton and Gore.
So how did the rallies, separated by a dozen years, compare?
What I remember from the Clinton rally is a buoyant sense of optimism. Finally someone from the baby boom generation was going to take over and put our ideas into practice. My memory has a soundtrack of Fleetwood Mac and golden leaves fluttering down as Bill and Al waded into the crowd for a handshaking orgy.
I didn't get the same buzz from the Kerry rally, but maybe it's because I've been disappointed before. (Go ahead and laugh. I actually thought that by the time my baby was a teenager, we would have a better health insurance system in this country.)
Kerry gets points for being prompt. He gave the crowd what it wanted, although he seemed to hold back when he could have taken his supporters over the top.
Or maybe I'm just getting old. After the Kerry rally, I chatted with three young moms who were doing a tag- team diaper change on the Alliant Center floor.
Sara Cutler, of Madison, mom of Jonah, 18 months, said Kerry spoke right to Generation X when he decried the huge deficit we're leaving to our children.
"I totally thought about our kids," she said. "My husband and I have huge student loans and credit card debt. Our whole generation lives under the cloud of debt and I know what it's like. To think we're doing this to our country totally frustrates me."
Cutler says she wants Jonah to go to a public school with fewer than 15 students per class, and she feels that with Kerry in the White House, federal money is more likely to go to education.
Her friend, Katie Gletty- Syoen, also from Madison and mom of Ella, 4 months, said she was touched by Kerry's talk about "the mom who had to keep saying 'no' to her kids" because she couldn't afford to give them what they wanted. Coming of age during the affluent '90s, then becoming parents during this decade, makes them relate to stories of having less than before.
Hana Beckel of Stevens Point, mom of Madilin, 10 months, said Kerry's talk about health insurance "hit home with me" because of problems she and her husband have had with their insurance.
Yeah, I thought, I'm a dozen years older, and I still worry about what my insurance will cost next year and whether it will cover my kids' health problems.
And then I went off to find my teenager, who was mad that I didn't get her backstage to meet Sheryl Crow.
That's when it hit me. John Kerry tours with a rock star; Bill Clinton was a rock star. But while he put on a great rally, Clinton didn't deliver what he promised my generation of moms. Maybe the next one will fare better.
Contact Susan Lampert Smith at ssmith@madison.com or 252-6121.
Waaaaaaaaa. Blame Sheryl Crow for not making the effort to meet her fans who march to her Pied Piper flute. She uses her star power to bring out young people and then says, "Screw 'em".
That's when it hit me. John Kerry tours with a rock star; Bill Clinton was a rock star. But while he put on a great rally, Clinton didn't deliver what he promised my generation of moms. Maybe the next one will fare better.
She must be a blonde. A blonde woman went to the doctor and said, "Doctor, I don't know what's wrong with me! Everything I touch hurts!"
The doctor said, "Well, what do you mean?"
The patient continued, "Well, when I touch my head, 'owww', it hurts. When I touch my shoulder, 'owwwww', it hurts. When I touch my leg, 'owwwww!'"
The doctor looked at the patient and said, "Let me see your hand... your finger is broken!"
The soccer mom voted for Bill Clinton to be the prince of her dreams. He wasn't. She's not as thrilled by John F***em Kerry but she still believes the lying 'Rats.
Maybe when she reaches retirement, she won't be a yellow dog Democrat anymore.
"My husband and I have huge student loans and credit card debt."
And whose fault is this?
Good for you and your son!
See Generation X parents outshine Baby Boomers, It appears these three losers ended up on the wrong side of the bell curve.
BTW, Interesting that the author mentions the 30,000 that showed up for Clinton but fails to mention the crowd size for Kerry.
I must say, these people are truly stupid. They want it all, but don't want to pay their dues.
"Her friend, Katie Gletty- Syoen, also from Madison and mom of Ella, 4 months, said she was touched by Kerry's talk about "the mom who had to keep saying 'no' to her kids" because she couldn't afford to give them what they wanted. Coming of age during the affluent '90s, then becoming parents during this decade, makes them relate to stories of having less than before."
Well, isn't that terrible - having to say "no" to a child. God God, are these people spoiled. Since when is it bad to tell a child no? That's a huge part of what ails America - "adults" who don't know how to be parents.
These are the same jerks who voted for that lying pimp clinton twice and would put an arrogant charlatan like kerry into office. Grow up, you ignorant twits.
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