I understand that political activist bloggers are supposed to be all smart and stuff. I understand that oversimplifying complex issues might insult the intelligence of voters. But frankly, when I read Ezra Klein’s well-called-for critique of what Obama’s doing as regards healthcare, I can hear the sounds of thousands of eyes glazing over.

It’s well-meant and articulate. I agree that Obama’s plan is the weakest. But the reason critiques like this won’t persuade the uninsured to vote one way or another is because people struggling to get by often hear ‘mandatory’ and their first question isn’t “who’s plan is better?’ It’s ‘how can i get around the mandatory and still see a doctor when I’m sick?’

If you drive a car, there’s insurance minimums that have to be met. So for millions of poor people that means they’ll choose (a) not to own a car’ or (b) drive without insurance. Yet in the health care plan sweepstakes, there’s seemingly few options but to pay what may seem unaffordable. And many poor people will try to pay for their rent, utilities, food, personal hygiene, daycare and costs associated with working before anything else, no matter who’s mandating what. No matter how it’s spun, to them, any mandatory healthcare plan is just another tax. And a tax many don’t think they can afford.

Despite the political opposition, that’s why a Kucinich single-payer plan sounds like a big plus and mandatory plans do not, to so many people. None of the candidates have done a good job spelling out - in very simple terms - who will have to pay what.

What’s needed is a chart, spelling out what a minimum wage earner will pay and what they’ll get from the government to help them pay it. You make $12,000/yr, this is what it means. You make $18,000/yr, this is what it means. And so on.

If you make less than $15/hr, your income is $31,200/yr or less. I’d bet this is the group that makes up most of the 47 million uninsured Americans. It’s also the group least likely to vote because they don’t think most politicians understand how little such limited income can be stretched. That’s especially true for single people with no dependents.

If you make minimum wage, that’s $12,168/yr right now. If you deduct 15% for income taxes, the worker’s left with $10,343.

Few people are going to find rent and utilities combined at less than $700/mo. That’s $8400/yr. Food at $200/mo ($2400/yr) moves that total to $10,800, more than they’re earning. How do they get by? Sharing a dwelling with a roommate, which could be a spouse who can double that income. But even then, there’s just not a lot of stretch for those at such income levels.

I could cite other income levels and all of the other expenses common to any working person. And define how most medical insurance available remains out of reach for tens of millions of Americans. For example, the median household income in the US in 2006 was $48,000. That means about 150 million Americans are in households making less than $48,000. With 2 people working in such households, that means each is making less than $12/hr. So $48,000/yr would not be necessarily tough to get by on, unless you start factoring in regional variations in cost of living, dependent children, etc. And remember, too, the half of America under the median could have household income far less than 48 grand, less even than minimum wage if one’s unemployed, disabled or on welfare.

All these healthcare proposals are confusing unless they can be simplified to charts.

My point is, commercials like Obama’s will work because they make Clinton’s plan sound scary, even though they don’t spell out Obama’s plan in a comprehensible way.

Aside from that, I’ll add that Clinton’s plan is better but I’m still pretty much in the dark what it will precisely mean to me.

And yesterday, I heard Obama say he’d get the troops out of Iraq within 18 months of taking office. That’s the middle of 2010, making it a 7-plus year war. That’s unacceptable to me. Except that Hillary’s exit plan doesn’t offer a better timetable and McCain sounds like he’d annex Iraq forever.

It’s for reasons like these on the two biggest issues for me that I can’t endorse anyone. With Edwards out of the running, there’s simply no one left that’s offering a damn thing that I agree with or can fully understand. Gender and race are irrelevant to me. I don’t want a government that subsidizes the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people who never threatened my family, neighbors or country. I don’t want a healthcare plan so vague that I can’t even determine whether I can afford it.

Inspirational or not, precedent setting or not, if the candidates can’t come up with better plans or explain their plans well enough so I can do the math on my annual budget, then they can all go to hell, as far as I’m concerned.

So, yeah, I’ll let the rest of you choose our president. And if I can’t afford their plans, I guess I’ll have to break some laws to get by. When you’re poor, skipping insurance, working off-the-books or some other unsavory choice is pretty much what you’re stuck with.

Sure, some will say ‘get a degree’ or ‘work two jobs’ or ‘don’t have children you can’t afford’ or some similar admonishment. But life doesn’t always work as planned. I know many degreed people working for less than $12/hr. I know others who get stuck with an illness or accident or divorce or even some stupid mistake they made and they fall behind for years. Blaming the poor for their poverty cures nothing. And politicians raised in the comfort of middle class homes often don’t comprehend the myriad ways poverty can trap a person with a good mind and a good work ethic and honorable plans to advance themselves.

Speaking for myself, that’s why I don’t do celebrity worship. How can I relate to a ballplayer or actor or singer making millions when I work hard and scrape by? How can I relate to presidential campaigns that spend $100 million or more on three primaries? Oh I can root for someone a bit, but I don’t get upset if they don’t succeed because I know that 99% of them don’t give a shit about me or mine.

I felt John Edwards did stand up for folks like me. Two or three times in a lif