All right, I've had enough with the "Barackin' the Vote" and "McLeading the Polls."
I'm so sick of these campaigns focusing on dim-witted sound bites and a whole lot of talk without any hint of substance.
Hey John and Barack: Quit the whole Main Street and Wall Street act because anyone with enough sense will tell you that you haven't said a damn thing about the economy.
Where are the unsexy, not-made-for-TV stories about people like Brian Bryson that say more about the economy in 500 words than both candidates have said over the course of their entire campaigns?
Enduring the cyclical endeavor night after night, Bryson, a beer vendor for the Milwaukee Brewers, knows that the end of the season draws near. The visage of American struggle, his body coaxes his aching legs to take just one more step as sweat pours from his brow.
What is next for Bryson?
This cannot be the culmination of four years of hard work at one of the nation's finest journalism schools, and it isn't exactly what he envisioned after an internship with a prominent television network.
Bryson is America's current economic woe.
He is one of the many faces of a downtrodden economy and a listless job market. He is a believer in false hope who has become the victim of political inaction.
Work hard for your dreams, his parents told him. He did just that with his aspirations of becoming a sports broadcaster.
He paid his dues, but for what?
Bryson could very well be your older brother, the kid down the street or a guy in your fraternity. He could be from New York, Chicago, Atlanta or a small town in Wisconsin.
He is every man from everywhere, left to fix the mistakes made by those we are supposed to be able to trust most.
I look at Bryson and hurt overcomes me. I want the best for my friend because I know he has earned so much more than this.
Sure, his grades could have been a little bit better and his resume more polished, but he is definitely qualified for a better job - one that doesn't involve serving alcohol.
Now, a man with stronger convictions than anyone I know wants to give up on his dream.
I'm putting them on hold, he says, just for now, until something better comes along.
I see him maturing, adapting to his plight and no longer expecting the world to take care of him. Anything beats sitting around, he says. He just wants to feel better about himself; he's tired of the constant rejection.
I just want to look him in the eye, shake him and scream at him until he comes to his senses.
Exhaust every option you can think of and then keep going, I'd tell him. Life is fleeting. Working a dead-end job that you don't love will slowly kill you. Find within yourself an insatiable thirst for the job that I know you so desperately want.
Remember when you would play basketball on the driveway giving the play-by-play like you were in the broadcast booth at the Bradley Center.
To truly know what one wants to do with one's life is a blessing that many spend years searching for but never find.
Brian Bryson is America. He is hope for renewal. A chance for a second shot.
Like our great country, his time will come.
Daniel Seco is a journalism graduate student. His column appears on Thursdays.
