Brutal Toon in the NYT: Greetings from flyover country

[jtuck004]

63. Funny, I agree with you. Sort of. He might have to be a dictator now. But it didn't

have to come to this.

He made his choice to protect the wealthy from the people, instead of the people from the wealthy, at the beginning of his first administration, starting off by telling the bankers that "I am the only one between you and the pitchforks".

Had Obama's speech been to the people, that it was clear there needed to be an investigation, that he was staffing the FBI just like it was when they put the S&L crooks in jail, that he was directing resources into finding out what we needed to do to bring us into the next century instead of dying from the effects of the past one, we might have gone down a different path. Could have told us that because of their actions, these people who donated heavily to the D party, that things might get harder for awhile, that it might be scary, but that supporting criminals is not only un-American but unwise, and will lead us to an even worse disaster. (That, for many, is proving to be the case today). It's not like there wasn't a trainload of sensible, experience, reliable and knowledgeable people calling for him to do that. He chose to listen to others.

There were even models, FDR being one. He was no dictator, but made far different choices, with a different result.

One can argue that we needed to do that to "save" ourselves, but I question that, given that most people are not being saved, and are in a worse position than they might have been had we let the wealthy lose their ill-gotten gains and start from a lower position. The wealthy would be worse off, but they aren't the most important part of our economy, if today is any indication. By any objective measure life is becoming worse for too many Americans, something they are ill-prepared to deal with.

When he took office there were a million families a year being yanked out of their homes in foreclosures, businesses closing...he had plenty of people that would have stood with him, had he chosen to exploit it. And having been part of what I consider a noble profession, a community organizer, he certainly had the knowledge to do so. Hell, he had the podium and the ticket that gives community organizers wet dreams.

But he made different choices. (I personally think it's because he, or the people he listened to, didn't believe in "we the people", trust them, like one would need to be able to in order to take on such a challenge. Or maybe he just wasn't up to the task. Or perhaps the Reagan disaster scared populists too much after Carter, rightly, told everyone we needed to grow up and be responsible. But that's water under the bridge now, eh?)

So, today, finally, you are correct, especially if one leaves out the historical context. Which is perhaps good for one's ego, but millions of kids are still going to bed without food, parents without jobs and self-respect, and it didn't have to be this way.

But, you wanna see something really scary? (I borrowed that line from a movie. )

Even the person with a good secure job today has to worry about the 200 people down the street in the neighborhood that don't have one, realizing that the continuation of that job is probably dependant on those neighbors getting better. They aren't. We are sliding toward a cliff.

In a similar vein, as this continues, and as bad as the Republithugs are, more and more disaffected people, people whose conditions ARE getting worse and more tenuous are created. But they are not like the groups that were always afflicted with or threatened by poverty, who really don't vote in great numbers.

These people are used to voting. And people who think conditions are getting worse are far more likely to vote for a change than they are to continue with the party in power.

So while you may be right, I am not sure how much comfort there is in it.

See you on the other side...