Senator Tom Harkin: No Deal Is Better Than The Deal Being Negotiated

[JDPriestly]

23. How right you are.

Had I done my job with as little fight, as little determination, as little stubborn feistiness as the Democrats in Congress and the White House, I would not have last a day, not a day.

It's pitiful.

The problem is that the people who rise to the top in politics are people who have not had to struggle all that much really. By the time they are in their late 30s, they are in the limelight, have good incomes and lots of admirers. That kind of rapid, easy success does not make you into a fighter. I don't care how tough your childhood was, if your life goes well when you are in your 30s, if you are not doing without, pinching pennies, trying to get along, making tough choices but rather are going to the houses of the rich and well positioned, eating their caviar and French cheeses, etc., then you are going to identify with and want to please the rich. You will forget your tough childhood. You will congratulate yourself on having had the talent, the charm, the good character to have overcome the difficulties of the past.

So that is why so many of our politicians begin to side with the wealthy and famous, the sons and daughters of the wealthy and famous, what used to be the polo crowd, when they get into national or state-wide offices.

It's a crying shame, but we and our ugly little battles for survival are not even known to them. They think we are doing as well as they are.

So that is why the compassion that politicians show when they hold cute babies does not translate into caring about the lives of the grown-ups who struggle to feed the babies while taking care of their elderly moms and dads. That's not the "reality" of the successful politicians.

President Obama's mother-in-law was living in the White House last I heard. She is not struggling to get by on her Social Security, so what does the President know about the lives of those who are? Absolutely nothing, I assure you. That is why he was so ready to take the 30 pieces of silver offered by the Republicans.