The Unimportant People
This has been a really interesting weekend. The Stewart/Colbert Rally for Sanity appears to have been a resounding success, although the MSM might dispute that, as I predicted yesterday. Lots of people turned out to just chill, something I think is a wise thing to do, even in these perilous times. Will it make a difference on Tuesday? It's hard to tell, although it may get more people to the voting booths, and that's always a good thing in a democracy.
It was also an interesting weekend from the standpoint of what's up at Watching America. Much of the world's press is watching the American midterm elections closely, probably guided by the predictions of the American press with respect to an anticipated blood bath for the Democrats. While I'm not so certain that the results are going to be quite so drastic, there was some really good analysis done by the press in watchful nations.
I was especially drawn to this article from the Guyana Chronicle because it seemed to match what many of us have been saying for a long time. Confirmation is always nice, but during times like these, it also saves sanity. The thesis of the opinion piece is that President Obama and his Democratic colleagues in Congress picked the wrong side the last two years, and are giving every indication of doing the same for the next two years. Yes, it's the same side that the Republicans are taking, but that's the whole point: they're all wrong.
THERE are consequences for politicians when they ignore their base. In the case of the U.S, the ruling Democrats led by President Obama are set to suffer a humiliating defeat for ignoring the working and middle classes who turned out in record numbers to elect them to office. Instead of rewarding the working classes, the Democrats rewarded the wealthy class who had supported the Republicans and who got the country into a financial hole. The bulk of the Democrats plan to stay home come election day on November 2 and Obama is appealing to them to come out and rescue him. Even Guyanese, many among those who voted for Obama two years ago, plan to stay home. This is the pitfall of ignoring the people who voted you into office. [Emphasis added]
Bingo!
The tragic part is that both Obama and the Democrats in the 111th Congress blew an opportunity to right the Ship of State and to reinstitute what Robert Reich called the "Basic Bargain" in his latest book, Aftershock. That bargain is an agreement that the economy only works when all segments get the benefits, not just the top 10%. By bailing out the banksters and the miscreants on Wall Street and the corporate board rooms to the detriment of workers, all this administration did was reinforce the problems which will continue to plague this nation for at least another decade unless some drastic action is taken.
People like Paul Krugman and Duncan Black have been screaming (shrilly, alas) for months about what needed to be done to put people back to work with a stimulus that dealt with infrastructure and increased employment, but nobody in the Obama White House was interested. Unless the Dow was moving upward, government spending was useless.
As a result, many Americans are so frustrated that they've bought into the insane inanities of the like of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin. The progressives that worked their backsides off to get Obama elected to lead a Democratic Congress into the 21st Century are dispirited because their leaders have dismissed them as "fucking retards."
And now, we're about to hand the keys of this asylum over to the crazies who brought us to this pass.
I've already voted by mail, and I hope that everyone else will make the effort, but I have to tell you, I have a certain amount of sympathy for those who just throw their hands up in disgust and who stay home on Tuesday.
It was also an interesting weekend from the standpoint of what's up at Watching America. Much of the world's press is watching the American midterm elections closely, probably guided by the predictions of the American press with respect to an anticipated blood bath for the Democrats. While I'm not so certain that the results are going to be quite so drastic, there was some really good analysis done by the press in watchful nations.
I was especially drawn to this article from the Guyana Chronicle because it seemed to match what many of us have been saying for a long time. Confirmation is always nice, but during times like these, it also saves sanity. The thesis of the opinion piece is that President Obama and his Democratic colleagues in Congress picked the wrong side the last two years, and are giving every indication of doing the same for the next two years. Yes, it's the same side that the Republicans are taking, but that's the whole point: they're all wrong.
THERE are consequences for politicians when they ignore their base. In the case of the U.S, the ruling Democrats led by President Obama are set to suffer a humiliating defeat for ignoring the working and middle classes who turned out in record numbers to elect them to office. Instead of rewarding the working classes, the Democrats rewarded the wealthy class who had supported the Republicans and who got the country into a financial hole. The bulk of the Democrats plan to stay home come election day on November 2 and Obama is appealing to them to come out and rescue him. Even Guyanese, many among those who voted for Obama two years ago, plan to stay home. This is the pitfall of ignoring the people who voted you into office. [Emphasis added]
Bingo!
The tragic part is that both Obama and the Democrats in the 111th Congress blew an opportunity to right the Ship of State and to reinstitute what Robert Reich called the "Basic Bargain" in his latest book, Aftershock. That bargain is an agreement that the economy only works when all segments get the benefits, not just the top 10%. By bailing out the banksters and the miscreants on Wall Street and the corporate board rooms to the detriment of workers, all this administration did was reinforce the problems which will continue to plague this nation for at least another decade unless some drastic action is taken.
People like Paul Krugman and Duncan Black have been screaming (shrilly, alas) for months about what needed to be done to put people back to work with a stimulus that dealt with infrastructure and increased employment, but nobody in the Obama White House was interested. Unless the Dow was moving upward, government spending was useless.
As a result, many Americans are so frustrated that they've bought into the insane inanities of the like of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin. The progressives that worked their backsides off to get Obama elected to lead a Democratic Congress into the 21st Century are dispirited because their leaders have dismissed them as "fucking retards."
And now, we're about to hand the keys of this asylum over to the crazies who brought us to this pass.
I've already voted by mail, and I hope that everyone else will make the effort, but I have to tell you, I have a certain amount of sympathy for those who just throw their hands up in disgust and who stay home on Tuesday.
Labels: Election 2010
posted by Diane at 10:00 AM
1 Comments:
I do intend to vote this Tuesday. And I will vote Democratic. Since I came of political age during the 1960 election season, I have noted that Republicans by and large tended to support the richest people (and corporations) to the detriment of others. (This even though I grew up in Nelson Rockefeller's New York State where we besides him we had such Republicans as Jacob Javits.)
If we give the government back to the Republicans as a way to "show" Democratic politicians that we protest their timidity and craven capitulation, we will only make things that much worse for ourselves and I don't think we will ever get the chance to make things right again. I think we have to vote the Dems back with the numbers needed to then write them and demand they follow our wishes. And keep the pressure.
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