[mackinac81]

When people bring this subject up, I feel compelled to point out that most of the major economic engines of our economy vote Democratic: New York, California, Washington, Illinois...

To simply blame a political party is absurd. Ohio voted Republican last time around and isn't doing much better. Mississippi is deeply Republican and remains one of the poorest states in the country, as well as West Virginia.

I suspect a lot of people are voting for Obama because he has a vision for a new economy based on renewable energies and a concrete plan to help the auto industry transition away from oil and to help create millions of jobs in manufacturing alternative energies - many of those in Michigan, a state ripe to be the epicenter of this new green industrial revolution. McCain has simply given the old cut taxes line (and lied about Obama's plan to also cut taxes), which from Reagan to Bush to Palin in Wasilla, has always resulted in massive increases in debt.

I'm not a hardcore liberal by any means, but there are certain times when we need conservatives to step in to balance things out (Reagan) and there are certain times we need a liberal to balance things out and use the government as a tool to help transition to a new economy.

The Michigan economy isn't going to recover simply by cutting taxes. We need a new vision for a new economy and Obama gets that.

There are some good Democrats, who understand how to make an economy run well, and you have bad Democrats, who are simply clueless. Granholm and the Michigan Democrats are bad Democrats.

Actually Ohio went Democrat in 2006, but your point stands that for most of the decade the Ohio GOP wasn't helping. In fact Gov. Strickland has done a lot of good things for Ohio. he's a Democrat who understands that Ohio needs to move away from industry and diversify. Granholm can't do that. She and the rest of the Michigan Dems are still stuck in the Detroit Big 3 mindset.

[flyingwriter]

I voted for DeVos in 06'. He would have been much better than Granholm for the economy. However, I don't think there's a big difference between Repubs and Dems right now. They're all into the "Big business, free trade, bailout, keep shipping jobs to China" mindset.

[Bluefly]

Actually Ohio went Democrat in 2006, but your point stands that for most of the decade the Ohio GOP wasn't helping. In fact Gov. Strickland has done a lot of good things for Ohio. he's a Democrat who understands that Ohio needs to move away from industry and diversify. Granholm can't do that. She and the rest of the Michigan Dems are still stuck in the Detroit Big 3 mindset.

I actually respect Granholm, though I understand why many do not. But I agree that it makes no sense this continued obsession with the auto industry.

Since I was a little boy the industry has supposedly been dying, and yet we continue to wait for its triumphant resurrection. The automobile era is ending. It's time to move on.