McCain and Obama Are Fighting for Middle-Class Voters

If you are a member of America's middle class this election year, you are sort of like a blue-chip football recruit, lavished with praise, attention and adoration from fawning coaches and alumni who would love nothing more than to land the prized player to win the national championship.

For "coach" John McCain and "coach" Barack Obama, the title to win is president of the United States, and like the big-time football coaches, they will say and do anything to make it happen.

Tax cuts? Oh, absolutely, we don't want you to feel any more pain. Let the rich — and the poor — deal with carrying the burden.

You want more jobs? Sure, we're going to force companies that send jobs overseas to stay at home because we know you need those long-disappearing and high-paying manufacturing jobs that helped build this nation.

Can't afford to send your kids to college? Don't sweat it. We've got tax credits, Pell Grants, super-duper loans and all kinds of other options to make college a reality.

Are they cutting back on health care at your job? No big deal. Coach McCain says he's got some nifty tax credits lined up to tickle your fancy and ignite your soul. Coach Obama? He's going to go for the whole enchilada by pushing for virtually universal health care.

Oh, these guys are wonderful with their sales pitches. They have the ability to make everyone feel so special and loved; no one else is more important to them — at that moment.

I must admit, the pathetic pining for middle-class votes has turned so moronic that at times, it drives me nuts.

First, whom in the world are we even talking about? If you listen to the candidates and their campaigns, those in the middle class could make upward of $200,000 a year, while some suggest middle class means earning as little as $20,000.

I moderated a panel Tuesday for the National Black MBA Association and heard descriptions of the lower-middle class, the middle class and the upper-middle class. Someone even suggested that it's really about a "state of mind."

That's right. It boils down to how we feel and think. If that's the case, then even if you have $5 million in the bank but love your family, go to church and share the same values as others around you, you're middle class.

Please, can we just stop the lofty talk and plain-spoken, simplistic solutions and be as specific as possible?

There are really four fundamental issues affecting middle-class voters:

—Jobs. We've seen a loss of 600,000 jobs under President Bush, so how exactly would McCain and Obama create jobs? Is there anything in their past that shows they have the ability to do just that? I've heard "drill, drill, drill!" from McCain, and Obama says we're going to turn the old textile and steel mills into green machines by targeting wind and other sources of energy.

—Housing.

Congress is providing a backstop for Wall Street — making billions available if cash is needed. What would McCain and Obama actually do to keep folks from losing their homes? Oh, I know a lot of people suggest that these middle-class folks should have read the fine print and not gotten in over their heads, but if something is good for Wall Street, why not Main Street?

—Health care. This is no joke and a primary reason Americans file for bankruptcy. I know. My appendix ruptured in 2000 while covering the Democratic National Convention, forcing me to spend five days in a Los Angeles hospital, during which I accrued more than $70,000 in hospital bills. Yep, I didn't have health insurance. I was just a 29-year-old never-been-sick freelancer stuck out in the cold. The pressure of that led to me falling behind on my mortgage and the start of foreclosure proceedings. Bankruptcy was the only thing that saved me, and by the grace of God, my finances turned around, and this month, I'm making my final payment.

McCain says a $5,000 tax credit for health care would help, but the problem with that is you have to pay the dough upfront and then claim it on your taxes. But what happens when they want the money now?

Obama says the answer is his health care plan, but that switch won't be flipped immediately. So what happens while the laborious debate takes place? I just wait for my MRI until Washington finishes debating and the special interests pick the plan to death?

—Education. For many Americans, education is a ticket to the middle class and beyond. Much of the time, the candidates talk about vouchers. Look, that's not going to solve the education problem. What we should be hearing them talk about is the inequity of the school systems. Children living in wealthy school districts get tons of money and the best qualified teachers, while poorer districts are forced to make do with less qualified teachers and without computers or even basic amenities.

Remember those blue-chip players? Today they are telling coaches: If you want me to sign, promise that I'll start. No play, no sign.

That's what middle-class Americans must tell the candidates. If you are unwilling to put your personal credibility and integrity behind your campaign pledges, then you don't get my vote.

If you give away your vote just because someone is a Democrat or Republican, a man or a woman, black or white and you end up getting screwed in the end, you have no one to blame but yourself.

So use the most powerful thing you have to demand real answers to your real problems from McCain, Obama, Joe Biden and Sarah Palin: your vote.

The power is literally in your hands.

Roland S. Martin is an award-winning CNN contributor and the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith." Please visit his Web site at www.RolandSMartin.com. To find out more about Roland S. Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.