Missing the Point.

See Bruni, Frank.

Over the next 14 months, we shouldn’t be impressed by someone who can imitate ordinary. We should figure out who promises to be extraordinary. And that determination should be guided less by what candidates eat or drive than by what they’ve done with the reins of power, whether holding them with chapped or manicured fingers. 

It's about what you can do.
Yourself, independently.

If you kill, butcher and smoke your own, why, it's a bit like growing your own. It decreases the need to rely on others, and the commercial system. (Frank: Love ya babe, but do they sell venison sausage at the CostCo's near you? Can't buy wild venison here... you want it, you gotta go out and get it yourself.)

In law school, there's a saying (not for the offspring of tenured profs hoping to cash in on the system themselves, or for the corporate go-along-to-get-along types either): You eat what you kill.

Obama's never done that. Lived off his own skills and talents. Nor has Hillary; she (and so many Democratic women. See Pelosi, Nancy) came up through their men. That's why -- say what you will about Sarah or Michele, they got there on their own two. And it matters.

It's not about dirt-bike-riding, or bow hunting (a very legitimate pursuit here in the hinterlands. Don't poke fun, please, and we promise not to laugh at how you spend your leisure time on the coast, Frank.) It's about ... wait for it ... independence.

The thing I've lately learned is: the more the dependent people want to make their choices, they also want to foist their choices on the rest of us. If it only works this way for them, then they want to rope everybody into their own way of doing business.

Healthcare mandates (with no out for those who don't run up bills they can't pay for). Unpopular wars, because somebody overseas, or their lobbyists, has us convinced that it's in the American taxpayers best interests to sign on. Entitlement programs that benefit some (hello Boomers!) at the expense of others (tough luck being born in the late 60s and 1970s, kids!)

Technology promises to free us. From the public education systems that are pretty much bad jokes in some places, concerned more with transferring cultural values best delivered at home, and less with education.

And here's a harsh one: perhaps, if we stopped subsidizing births -- and let people cover the costs privately -- we'd have a better stock of citizens. The liberals, you see, who believe in open borders, then turn around and want the rest of us to pay for their policy choices.

Independence. It means figuring out the price tag early on, and then deciding whether or not you can pay when the bill comes. Some want their choices, and then expect others to pay too.

Some eat what they kill.

You decides, as the rest of the country will soon, which kind of America works best.

PS. I'm partial to the jerky myself. Salty sure, but like anything worth enjoying: moderation, moderation, moderation.

This country is diverse, geographically, and with our regional cultures. Here, the public meetings still include a Christian prayer. Personally? I like living with majority Christians. Others probably wouldn't leave New York if you paid them. It's that choice that makes our country great.

Pretending we're one homogeneous society, where your choices will be mine and vice versa, is silly. Stupid, really. We're so busy making fun of the other guy -- whether it be here in flyover, or there you Coasties, that we forget it really does take all types.

What will it take for us to remember, and honestly respect, our differences?

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ADDED: This "highlighted" comment, from Ray of Miami, seems to say it all:

I'm a hunter too. Big deal. I wouldn't say it would make me a president.
When I was younger, I decided to try bowhunting. It was the cruelest thing I had ever seen.
Did you know most bowhunters don't make a kill on the first shot? No, they have to shoot over and over again while the buck goes into convulsions and crys just like a baby until it bleeds out.
I never had to take more than one shot with my gun. One shot and it is over.
So, how does torturing a deer or other animal make you, "tough" or a good candidate for any office?
Sounds like a psychopathic abuser to me.
Making your own sausages? Wow, I'm impressed he can do something Martha Stewart can do.
Geez, what have we come to in this country when childish bravado can go on a political resume?

Torture, eh? Childish bravado? Unless you don't eat meat, and don't condone America's foreign policy these past several years, I suggest you leave the hunters out of it. Bowhunting, instead of sitting in a tree with a rifle, is actually a more humane sport, as it encourages cleaner shots to save time in tracking, and it also permits the animal a better chance on the ground.

Bow hunting season opened here Saturday. It's not for sport, but to fill freezers. You have to travel into the cities, or an hour south on 55 into Eau Claire, if you even want to visit a CostCo, I think. Never been in one myself. (You can't assume all your modern city conveniences are available in rural areas.) It really is sad, to me, the way we disrespect the choices and living conditions of others, because some think that what they've got is indeed available to all.

Come up and visit northern Wisconsin, Frank. Whoever highlights those comments is missing something basic. If you think all bowhunters are like the ones on tv, in it for the sport and rich and entitled, you'd be wrong. It's sad to paint people like that, perhaps some of the kindest, animal-respecting people you might ever meet.

I understand why hunting perhaps turns the stomach of many. I don't hunt myself, but I do respect those who do, the vast majority -- here anyway -- who respect the animal, the land, and the want a healthy, and cheap -- if you process it yourself -- source of meat for the winter.

Winter? I don't think men like Bruni really know the meaning of the word. Regional differences and all...