President Obama delivered a powerful, yet predictable speech last night and closed the convention on a positive note.  He is a tremendous orator and it’s not difficult to understand how he motivated people to follow him in his first election.  The question is, will it work this time?  The unemployment figures were just released and the economy added a very modest 96,000 jobs, lowering the unemployment rate to 8.1%.  Can the President win re-election with unemployment over 8%?  Possibly, but it will make the task far more difficult.  There are millions of Americans out there, who are still struggling.  What’s so fascinating about President Obama, is even as he presents being President for all Americans, he is polarizing.  His vision of America, for millions of Americans, is not their vision.  No one could question all of the positive things he said such as we’re all in this together but it doesn’t resonate with much of the country.  You can’t govern, legislate unity.  That happens at the local level.  Regardless of what the President and Democrats state over and over again, the Republicans care every bit as much for the average citizen as they do.  Remember, 57 of the top 100 wealthiest Congressmen in this country are Democrats.  While they profess to be one of us, they really aren’t . The Republicans may not want to be one of us, but they have no issue with us being one of them.  And that is the fundamental difference.  The Democrats are the party of misery loves company as opposed to helping lift more people in to the next tier.  One other important part of the President’s speech that needs to be addressed is the misguided, misinformation on General Motors.  The Republicans and Mitt Romney didn’t want to see the American Car Companies falter, they just wanted the companies to do what so many companies have done when insolvent, file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection without government/taxpayer, bailout money.  That’s what the airlines did, that’s what a number of large retailers did.  The bankruptcy laws exist for the very purpose of protecting companies from creditors, while re-organizing.  Nothing wrong with adhering  to that position.  In fact, it’s a more legitimate position, because in the end, we, the taxpayers, footed the bill for the bailout.  Hence, Government Motors.  And while I certainly understand the reasoning behind it, and it did in fact save GM from chapter 11, the governments function is not to bail out poorly functioning companies.  It can’t be more simple than that.  Had chapter 11 been filed, there’s no evidence the car companies would not have ended up exactly where they are today.  Let the debates begin.