Obama vs. McCain by the numbers

COLUMBUS: This election campaign is coming down to a clear division point between the candidates. Senator Obama says he is representing the 95% who expect to be on the receiving end of the excess wealth of the country, and Sen. McCain says he is looking out for the 5% expected to contribute it. With those kind of percentages it’s no surprise that Mr. Obama draws crowds of 100,000, and Mr. McCain averages 5000.

The financial mess on Wall Street reached Ohio last week. National City Bank of Cleveland failed. After it’s stock dropped from $24 to $2, it was salvaged by a Pittsburgh bank The bank president and a dozen of his henchmen claim they are each owed a 5 to10 Million dollar bonus, I suppose for their splendid financial foresight.

Saturday night I went to the Ohio State-Penn State football game. You might say that was another instance where an Ohio institution was taken over by one from Pennsylvania. Coach Joe Paterno is an institution himself. He’s been coaching there more than fifty years, inflicting pain and losses on teams across the country. Even his opponents will agree Joe Paterno is one presiding officer who would deserve a $10 Million parting bonus.

For those of you who read this column in your weekly newspaper, this will be the last column before the big election. “My” birthday is November 4, and I’ll be in Oklahoma Nov. 1-5 for the celebration.

This is rare, to have a Presidential election land on my birthday. Since being born on election day in1879 (an off-year), in a log house near Oologah, Indian Territory, the only Presidential elections on November 4 have been in 1884, 1924, 1952 and 1980. And in case you’re wondering, the next ones will be 2036 and 2092. That’s a long time to wait between ’em, but the way the candidates are going at each other, you might prefer spacing them out.

Historic quotes from Will Rogers:

“We know that everybody should ‘share the wealth.’ Now, Huey’s [Sen. Huey Long] plan to “share the wealth,” it’s a marvelous idea. Huey’s a smart guy, don’t overlook that. And our own downright conscience tells us that there’s no reason why anybody should have more than you. There ain’t nothing wrong with the plan, only this one little defect: Nobody ain’t going to share it with you, that’s all. I know a lot of tremendously rich people that should share their wealth with me, but they just don’t see it that way. And I know folks that ain’t got as much as I have that think I ought to share it with them. Well, I just can’t hardly see it their way either. That is, even if I can see it that way, I’m not doing it.” Radio, April 21, 1935

(On his radio show Will described a lunch he had in the Capitol with 5 Senators, both Republican and Democrat, and concluded with this…) “We had a great lunch. (Senator) Capper paid for it. The Republican pays, as usual. And everything that the Democrats are doin’ now, the Republicans pay for it. Everybody asks me, “Will, how long is this going to go on, spending all this money and everything going like this?” I says, “Well, it will go on just as long as the Republicans has got any money. That’s all I know about it.” Radio, March 31, 1935

“I guess this stock market drop is due to the fact that Rockefeller and all those big men who stabilized it a couple of weeks ago have about reached the limit of their margins. What the market needs now is another bunch of men that will stabilize it during its next 100-point drop.” DT #1030, Nov. 13, 1929

“Say, this new home building idea of (President) Hoover’s sounds good. They are working out a lot of beneficial things. The only thing is it took ’em so long (2 years) to think of any of ’em. We ought to have plans in case of depression, just like we do in case of fire, ‘Walk, don’t run, to the nearest exit.'” DT #1659, Nov. 16, 1931

“You know the more you read and observe about this Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that’s out always looks the best. My only solution would be to keep ’em both out one term and hire my good friend Henry Ford to run the whole thing, and give him a commission on what he saves us.” WA #3, December 31, 1922

“So it’s going to be mighty hard next Wednesday after it’s over to tell which one to congratulate. If this depression stays with us, the loser Tuesday is going to be the winner.” DT #1951, Nov. 4, 1932