What do working moms have to do with deficit reduction?

We live during a time when what makes news is invariably trivial. The current flap is unique because it involves something said by a democrat. Hillary Rosen who is supposed to be a PR advisor said that Mitt Romney’s wife “never worked a day in her life.” If a republican had uttered those words about a prominent democrat’s wife there would be calls from the left about firing that person. However, no such thing has been reported in the media. Obama would have then called the aggrieved democrat and offered sympathy. Again, no call from the president to Mrs. Romney. This underscores something fundamental about this president that has not been said: that he is not a compassionate person. A call from Obama would make his appear as gracious as his predecessor and would have been a boon in this election year to his image. But his president is neither compassionate nor gracious.

However, while the news explodes on this issue as well as last month’s dustup over Rush Limbaugh comment’s regarding a Georgetown law student’s comments that her friends can afford to go to Georgetown law but cannot afford birth control pills and therefore want someone else to pay for them, a truly important issue somehow missed being reported. Last month, the senate rejected a bill to eliminate duplicate government programs by a vote of 52-46. This vote actually showed that there is no hope for the budget to be brought under control given the composition of the senate. A GAO study was used as the basis of the vote. The cost savings would have been a trivial $10 billion which is what the government spends in two days. And yet the vote was to deny even that amount of savings. What happened to concern over the deficit being a major issue in this country? Why didn’t the republican candidates all rant and rave about this? It is noteworthy that everyone gets worked up over statements that have absolutely no importance and yet ignore such an important vote. So what is needed is for the republicans to get to 60 votes in the next senate along with the presidency. This may not mean 60 republican senators since Claire McCaskill who is in a tough re-election race has been trying to pass herself off as a fiscal conservative (more on that later) and West Virginia’s Joe Manchin would likely favor fiscal restraint.