Give ‘em hell, Mr. President.
That’s what I found myself yelling at the TV screen
yesterday as I watched Barack Obama give it all he’s got to try to bring this
country together so we can get back on track and regain our No. 1 standing in
the world, as he put it.
Here he was appealing to our better natures in urging us all
to put aside our personal and collective ideologies and do the hard work
managing our affairs and our money better, to reach deep inside to the heart of
what it means to be an American and balance our own needs and interests with
those of others.
I was astonished when minutes after what I thought was a
great speech, CNN – the voice of the passion- less — cut off the discussion
and moved on to mindless blather about vague worries and months-old concerns that
terrorists MIGHT strike on the 10 anniversary of 9-11.
Could they be right that Americans are more worried about an
act of terrorism than what this profound economic and political crisis is doing
to the country, to our future?
What the talking heads of the left and right did during the
hour after the President spoke was far more calculating. They demeaned
everything the President said, trivializing his effort to change the conversation
and stop the free-fall decline of America as nothing but political cunning as
MSNBC put it, or pointless as Fox characterized it.
Presidential Press Secretary Jay Carney went head to head
with Bill O’Reilly who began their chat by warning he hoped his guest would
still be happy to have appeared on “The Factor” for the first time after he was
put through the ringer of total disbelief.
O’Reilly first question went to the heart of the matter:
What was the point of the President’s effort to reach out when Republicans will
never vote for his plan because they took blood-oaths to never raise taxes on
anyone, especially the rich?
There can’t be any doubt that we have reached the point
where our cynicism fed by corporate media has made any form of since honest
give-and-take impossible.
It’s all just become a game of verbal jousting where points
are scored – which may explain why the President of the United States was
forced to speak to the nation at a joint session of Congress at 4 p.m. Pacific
Time to avoid conflict with the start of the NFL season. Football is what we
all live for, isn’t it?
I’m no pansy when it comes to criticizing public officials
from LA to Sacramento and beyond for their long-time failure to serve the
public interest, for their selling out to special interests as if there were
never going to be dire consequences.
But I see in where Obama is going that he sees the potential for calamity — and not just to his own political fortunes — if we keep engaging in this
political death struggle as if even the slightest tax increase or reduction in
public employee payroll costs will cause the Sun to stop shining.
The world as we’ve known it is ending and we need to radically change our ways to
avoid turning the difficulties we now face into a catastrophe that will hurt a
lot of people, a lot more than the millions who already are feeling the pain of
three years of economic decline and decades of failed leadership.
The era of domination of our society by big government, big business and big labor must end. They have had their day since the end of World War II but they can’t generate wealth anymore and that’s what kept us in line all these years.
You don’t have to agree with the President. You don’t have to like him. But he in the President and he’s opened the door to start a conversation about how we begin to reinvent America.
We can either join this debate or escalate the destructive political wars of recent years.
Ron, I agree with you. I heard/watched the speech two times. I came away with the same impression – that Obama is telling the American public that the political “circus” must stop in D.C. if American is going to emerge whole from this economic crisis.
Otherwise, our downward spiral will continue should politics as usual and special interests’ influences continue. The fact that he suggested reforming the tax code was encouraging too.
However, watching the stone-faced Boyner was particularly telling – he only stood in support one time, when Obama said China must not build the first class airports, roads, etc., in this world. It’s America’s place…
So, if Boyner (and gang) want China not to become the world power it seeks to be, then partisan politics must cease.
I was also disturbed by the scope of job creation in the bill – it is always union members first (police, fire, teachers). Not that I begrudge them their jobs. But, it did make me think that he was pandering a bit to the unions since they will raise so much money during all upcoming elections. Wonder also what the criteria will be to prove-up that one has been out of work for at-least six months to obtain this new federal job assistance…what about those people who never collected unemployment insurance?
No matter what – it is a start. Let’s hope it doesn’t die an early death.
Mr. Kaye, very thoughtful article as usual.
However, I must disagree with you on one point.
You state, “The era of domination of our society by big government, big business and big labor must end.”
I believe that the Reagan revolution’s (and the Republican party) primary mission was to destroy two sides of the triangle.
Big labor has been dead for 20 years now. Less than 1 in 10 workers are unionized and most of those are government employees, so the private sector labor unions are few and far between.
Big government has been dead for 30 years. Even bill clinton admitted as much and Obama has mentioned many times his admiration for Reagan.
That leaves us with Big Business and that business is booming. Corporate profits are at an all time high, even during this Great Recession.
Deregulation, tax cuts to the wealthy, off shore money laundering, outsourcing jobs to China, trade agreements which destroy wages in the U.S. have all been promoted by big business and that is why this country is suffering.
I was a boy during the Great Depression and for the first 60 years of my life, my generation never let the brain dead Republicans near the helm of this great ship of state because we remembered all too well the policies which almost destroyed America.
I tell my grandchildren about my neighbors literally eating tree roots to stay alive.
Now, my cohort is dead or dying and the irresponsible, selfish, morons of the baby boom generation are repeating the same mistakes as my parents generation…namely, worshiping the wealthy, gutting the regulation of business etc.
I have seen the destruction caused by these conservative viewpoints twice in my lifetime.
Once more and we will be finished.
The New Deal saved this country and its been under fire now for 30 years by the idiotic right wing nuts.
I am not surprised by the outcome which is plain for all to see….outrageous bonuses for Wall Street crooks, a wealth inequality last seen when I was born, the total destruction of the working class…I could go on and on.
Please young voters, pick up a history book and learn the lessons for those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
Ron, I always start out ready to attack you and then come away realizing you and I think alike. Let me summarize what I think needs to be done:
1. Smaller government
2. Money away from and out of politics
3. Three party system
4. Allow for non-rich to competitively run for government
5. Greatly simplify tax codes to allow the average citizen to easily understand it.
6. Taxes should NOT be withheld but BILLED MONTHLY.
7. Much reduced business regulation.
8. Phase out social security and medicare/aid. No new enrollments. Commitments kept to existing members.
9. Reduce medical insurance to only “major” medical.
10. Regulate medical services to create competition, choice, and direct access and payment for consumers.
11. Tax incentives for healthy citizens.
12. Tax penalties for unhealthy citizens.
13. Enforce the border effectively.
14. Enforce citizenship status proof with expedited deportation.
15. Allow one final “illegal immigrant” amnesty to get green cards. After, no card, see No. 14.
16. Massive “grass-roots” anti-drug campaign to kill demand side of drug trade.
Rinse, lather, repeat.
Keep up the awesome work Ron.
I have a different opinion.
Obama is still incompetent in marco-economics and his proposals are very meek at best. In fact, Obama is a Supply Sider who cannot interpret the facts. Business has absolutely everything it needs except customers, and much of Obama’s plan reduces the number of customers. When he said the $400 Billion would be paid for, he spoke economic idiocy.
Obama will sell out. Since Obama was a Senator, he has shown a pervasive and enduring inability to fight. He always runs away, and in so doing he, abandons anyone and everyone who depends on him. Maybe we need the DSM V to include a new Personality Disorder – The Cowardice Disorder characterized by a complete inability to fight for what’s right while pretending you’re being reasonable.
People who allow a few catchy phrases and a dash of rhetoric to deceive them into believing that Obama will do anything to solve this economic crisis are addle brained.
Wait until Nov 23rd when the $1.5 Tillion in spending cuts are announced, and then see how all the acrimony they will generate on talk radio and the cable channels destroys the 2011 Xmas Shopping Season. Then on Xmas Eve, they will take final vote on spending cuts, and we will find out whose lives will be destroyed by the financial axe.
This year rather than saying “Merry Xmas,” we should adopt the old Roman Slogan, “Those of us who are about to die …”