In the South, they take football very seriously.

One young woman with whom I work has been wrapped up in football practices and the ceremony associated with having a high-school footballer son for the best part of a month. Her schedule at work, family mealtimes and alarm clocks in her world are all reset for the duration of the season. That’s how it goes here. For my part, I’m astounded that these youngsters suit up and practice for hours each day in full gear in the devilish Mississippi heat and August humidity. Ugh.

Interestingly, the assorted teams from pee-wee league all the way to Ole Miss (Viki stands, removes her ball cap and places it solemnly over her heart,) all understand and play by the same set of rules.  I wonder why politicians do not?

This week, since Wisconsin’s Congressman Paul Ryan joined the Romney ticket, the Republican candidates have been assembled at the fifty-yard line ready to scrimmage. Obama and his teammates are stalking up and down the sidelines, shouting insults and grumbling about their opponent’s choice of underwear and/or tax returns as if any of those things actually mattered to the American people. It seems as if Obama wants to play a different game altogether and refuses to take the field. Sniping from the sidelines is lately what Obama does best. This is what Southerners call delaying the game and is an infuriatingly effective way of delaying what promises to be an embarrassing rout.

The fans, folks like you and me, want to hear the debate. We want to learn what tricks the players have in their respective playbooks. We want to know how these men, self-styled experts all, plan to do to put this great nation back on its feet. We want to be dazzled. We want to participate in a wave. We want to cut to the part where we are leaping to our feet overwhelmed by sheer pride and team spirit. We want to carry our heroes off the field on our shoulders.

We don’t care about Mitt Romney’s choice of athletic supporters (or political ones.) Nor are we upset over his very clever and thoroughly legal use of tax loopholes. That doesn’t mean he’s crooked. It only means he’s smart enough to use the tools provided within the tax code to protect his wealth. I find that encouraging. It is certainly not worthy of this much grousing by the opponents.

The fact is, the Democrats seek to run the clock out. With just 78 days remaining until the election, Obama is speaking to the crowd, alright, but from the sidelines. He’s not addressing the issues at all. His approach to solving the problems he’s brought upon this nation is overly simplistic and purely rhetorical. It IS very much like the analogy one talking head I saw yesterday to Steve Martin’s advice on How to Become a Millionaire. “First get yourself a million dollars.”

Barack Obama talks a good game but TALKING ABOUT FOOTBALL IS NOT THE SAME AS PLAYING FOOTBALL, Mr. Obama.

It’s not enough to show up at the stadium in your uniform. You’ve actually got to take the field and DO SOMETHING. If you want to be a player you need to shut up and get a few grass stains. This contest will not be won by the biggest talker. Americans are ready for real action. We want real solutions to our very real problems. Come on out and show us what you’ve got…….or not.