This is Golda Mier, the Mother of Israel. She is not wearing expensive clothes. I think if anyone said she looked like she was wearing a bedspread, the ground would open up and swallow them and rightfully so. As a matter of fact, newspapers and television reporters did not discuss her clothing. They discussed her politics. Reporters did not have huge clothing allowances from networks. Campaigns did not hire consultants to dress candidates in "earth tones." They did not worry about such things. Jack Kennedy bought his clothes at Brooks Brothers. They looked great on television then and they would today. But it wasn't an issue. Mrs. Kennedy liked clothes. Who the hell doesn't? If Mrs. Mier wasn't busy holding Israel on the map, she might have shopped at Neiman's. But she was thinking about things like national security. She didn't treat people like they were stupid. But our campaigns know that people are stupid and they play it to their advantage. Two weeks to go and we are discussing clothes.
If anyone thinks that the Obama's haven't been groomed, they are naive at best and just idiotic at worse. Nancy Reagan was criticized for her clothes. Nixon bragged of his wife's good "cloth Republican coat" giving good and hard to Mrs. Roosevelt who had just accepted a fur coat. Mrs. Lincoln spent a considerable sum on her clothes.
Now, damn it, there are important things to talk about and clothes are not important. Especially when the Obama campaign releases press statements and the press reports those statements as if they were getting them from a burning bush. Why are we discussing clothes? Because it is better than talking about issues. Better for the candidates than for us.
I am voting for Obama/Biden. Hairplugs and veneers and expensive suits and all. I voted for Hillary and handmade silk pants suits. I don't give a good damn about their clothes, jewelry or make up. I care about issues. Palin's clothes are not news. How much Cindy McCain spends on clothes is not news. What is news is whether or not I am going to have any retirement to live on when I am too old to leave the house and fight the damn traffic to get to work to teach students who cannot read and can't possibly learn to read when they are burying their bullet hole ridden boyfriends and helping their raped daughters get through the school year.
