We thought our economy's fundamentals were strong.
A reliable source told us and a whole bunch of our fellow Americans everything was going to be OK.
Then - bang, bang, bang - there were Freddie, Fannie and Merrill all in a row.
Now, we're hearing about billions of dollars going to corporate bailouts, credit disappearing and life savings circling the drain. To top it all off, now one of the candidates is trying to postpone Friday's presidential debate. A lot can happen in a couple of weeks.
Sen. John McCain said it's in the country's best interests to push the debate to the back burner to focus on America's immediate issue, the floundering economy. He wants to take the weekend off from campaigning to head to Washington to "work for a bipartisan solution."
On the other hand, his opponent Sen. Barack Obama believes the candidates should go through with the debate. Obama is reportedly keeping tabs on the economy by consulting with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and those negotiating the bailout strategy.
How convenient. We've got an election approaching, a dire issue that needs immediate, full attention and the two guys who could potentially become the next president feeding us nothing but absolute garbage.
We get it. McCain doesn't understand the economy. Neither do we.
The problem is that he goes on TV and tries to explain it to us, which only serves to further confuse all parties involved.
Obviously, he wants to get back to D.C. so someone on the Hill can give him some insight into this issue.
Then there's Obama. The dream-weaver who can silence thousands by simply clearing his throat, but who is still enough of an everyman to appear to care about a Gators football game during his appearance in nearby Jacksonville.
He also believes this whole economy nonsense should be immediately addressed - but in the form of a debate.
Why stop campaigning for an issue when you can keep doing a thousand things at once?
Typically, presidents don't have to deal with only one thing at a time. Isn't that right, Mr. Hope-I'm-President?
The way we see it, both these guys are full of it.
We're not saying they don't care about the economy because they have to. They live here just like the rest of us, so their interest in the situation is as valid as ours.
What we saw when we read McCain's announcement to put his campaign on hold is a man realizing he's losing ground and deciding to retreat.
As for Obama, we see a normally congenial candidate going for his opponent's jugular the moment he smells a weakness.
Both candidates' reactions are completely politically based. That's a problem.
Despite the U.S.'s awful economic state, both men continue to make decisions only in their best personal interests.
McCain needs to regroup and learn something, while Obama wants to knock his opponent out of the park by preying on his failings.
Meanwhile, we get to twiddle our thumbs, watch our economy bob along at the speed of smell and cross our fingers in hopes that, at some point, someone - neither of these two fellas, though - is able to do something about it.
