Last night's GOP presidential debate was no better or worse than what is expected from such events. Those running to be president of the United States repeated various portions of their stump speeches offering hints at potential plans to solve the nation's problems and attacking their political opponents. Tonight we'll see the same thing from the Democrats' side of the 2012 campaign but it will be disguised as a presidential address to a joint session of Congress.

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Texas Governor Rick Perry provided a glimpse of the kind of president he might be when he skipped the chance to participate in a nationally televised political forum to do his job. Mr. Perry was slated to appear with other GOP presidential contenders at Senator Jim DeMint's (R-South Carolina) Palmetto Freedom Forum on Labor Day, but instead he rushed back to work as a roaring wildfire raced across Central Texas.

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President Barack Obama opened his three-state bus tour today in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. After his all too familiar speech in which he blamed Japanese tsunamis, Arab springs and his political opposition for the failure of his own economic policies, he ended by saying "I'm here to enlist you in a fight. We are fighting for the future of our country and that is a fight that we are going to win. That is a promise that I make with your help." If, as his spokesmen claim this is not a campaign jaunt but a normal part of "doing what presidents do," then exactly who is our president fighting against?

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Now that the last of the fireworks have faded and the coals on the grill have cooled, I'm reflecting on what Independence Day means and what it is we actually commemorate on that day. It is, of course, our nation's birthday. But as with most secular holidays lately, it has become a day to remember, thank and celebrate those who fought wars on behalf of us all. That's always a worthy thing to do but while July 4, 1776 may have officially set off what would become the Revolutionary War, it was most importantly a day when American politicians did something brave and brilliant and that is what should be remembered.

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The national unemployment rate is over 9 percent and over 45 percent of the unemployed (that's 6.2 million Americans) have been out of work for more than 6 months - a higher percentage than during the Great Depression. (source) But President Obama barely acknowledged these painful economic facts dismissing them with a single line in his latest campaign speech: "There are always going to be bumps on the road to recovery."

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