Many commentators and observers, including this writer, argued for a far more aggressive and comprehensive strategy from the White House for getting America out of its economic morass. Obama's team chose a half-hearted, half-assed stimulus package, and the result is what we see today. Don't get me wrong, the stimulus helped. But it is running out, and you can see the effects that the empty well is having on state and local governments as they proceed to cut education and essential social services and programs.
Unemployment is high, twice as high for blacks, and the jobs aren't coming. 80 percent of recent college graduates are moving back home. And there is talk of a double-dip recession on the way, as housing prices are falling, with a faltering real estate market threatening to pull us back down in the hole. The President's abysmal failure of a foreclosure relief plan is blamed, in part, for the economic woes.
A new Washington Post-ABC poll reveals that President Obama has lost his post-Bin Laden bump in popularity. And more importantly, by a 2-to-1 margin, Americans believe the country is seriously on the wrong track. Nine in 10 rate the economy negatively, and six in 10 say the economy is not on the road to recovery. About six in 10 give Obama negative marks on the economy and the deficit. This comes on the heels of the departure of Austan Goolsbee -- one of Obama's progressive-leaning economic advisors -- who was frustrated that the President abandoned more stimulus investment to spur the economy, opting instead to pursue the folly of attacking deficits.
Polls at this early stage in the game don't mean a whole lot, but it is worth noting that Obama leads 5 of 6 Republican contenders, and is in a dead heat with Mitt Romney. I believe that Obama could handily beat any empty suit the GOP throws his way. Given the proclivities of the Republican primary electorate, I'll bet that Romney's status as frontrunner will be short lived. I will bet on Sarah Palin or someone of her ilk. Howard Dean said himself that Sarah Palin could defeat Obama in the general election, particularly with unemployment as it is.
Now, do I really think that Palin is presidential material? Not for a moment. Her latest gaffe -- actually a botchery of the historical account of Paul Revere's ride, in which she claimed Revere warned the British -- shows how ignorant and flighty the woman truly is. That is precisely why she could win. I don't trust the American electorate, especially when times are tough. Too many Americans drink the stupid juice when the economy is in the tank, and pull the lever against their own economic interests. Or, demoralized and disenchanted, they just stay home and don't vote at all. The results of the 2010 midterm elections provide all the evidence you need of that proposition. Voters cast their ballots for some of the most regressive governors, state legislators and members of Congress one can imagine.
The country is hurting, but instead we get voter ID legislation, decimation of labor rights, criminalization of abortion, Vouchercare, and laws banning sagging pants. We knew they would do something like this, even though they didn't explicitly say they would. The Republican track record on overreach speaks for itself. And the lackluster Democrats did their best to bring a GOP victory last year, eager as they are to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Although Palin and the other Republican hopefuls hardly seem viable candidates at first glance, consider Ronald Reagan. People laughed at the prospect of an actor becoming president. His opponent, the incumbent, was smart and capable, and didn't drag the country into war. But Jimmy Carter was done in by stagflation and the Iran hostage crisis, not to mention an intra-party challenge from Ted Kennedy, and two opponents in the general election.
If the economy continues to suffer enough, as it appears it will, Obama should take heed. Americans will elect the factually challenged, knowledge deficient and intellectually starved if given half a chance, which is why Obama needs to get serious about jobs, jobs, jobs. Regardless of how much he can accomplish on that front between now and Election Day 2012, he needs to get started yesterday. And it is time for him to ignore the Republicans. They have two goals in mind: First, to wreck the economy for 2012, and second, to establish a nation fully owned and operated by religious fanatics, the greedy and the unstable. They are making good on both of these promises.
That's the short term situation. Obama must find some jobs or he'll be out of one. Now, here's the long term problem, which leads us back to the short term: America is a feudal capitalist state with the highest inequality in the industrialized world. The inequality has widened over three decades, and is now at chronic proportions -- the highest since the Great Depression. The elites have decided to ride this one out, not through economic growth, because all they have to do, they've decided, is to squeeze as much as they can from the rest of us sharecroppers. And they're doing a superb job of it. Favorable tax policies and deregulation ensure that they get more and more, and the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision allowed them to buy the political system outright. So, a bribery-based political system -- concerned only with the next election cycle -- serves the interests of a crony capitalist system that cares only about the next quarterly profit statement.
Say what you will about China, but at least they never pretended to operate under any pretense of democracy. However, China does look one hundred years into the future, when America can barely look past the latest episode of Celebrity Apprentice. And as China silently colonizes Africa and wrests the leadership in renewable energy, the U.S. has no industrial policy other than military contractors. We can't even build a national high-speed rail system because the superstitious among us brand it as socialist big government welfare spending.
These are the problems that President Obama must face, because hell, world leaders are paid to do that. He can solve this whole thing tomorrow is he just calls for a new New Deal program already. But will he have the courage? Time will tell, but the President, like this sad nation, is short on time.
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Howard Schneider
gailrae
Kathy Henry
Jonathan Wolfman
Alaska Progressive
Hadrian
Salon.com
Comments
This was treason of the highest order.
-R-
After becoming Speaker of the House, John Boehner famously said " We're going to have a relentless focus on creating jobs". Can you name one program they've implemented since then? No, you cannot.
The only hope for the Republicans in 2012 is to stand idly by while the economy continues to melts down as a result of eight disastrous Republican years.
The answer is easy: Vote out EVERY Republican possible in 2012 and install a Democratic government that can make things happen.
To quote:
"Prof. ALLISON: Yeah. She was making a Second Amendment case. But in fact, the British were going out to Concord to seize colonists' arms, the weapons that the Massachusetts Provincial Congress was stockpiling there.
So, yeah, she is right in that. I mean, she may be pushing it too far to say this is a Second Amendment case. Of course, neither the Second Amendment nor the Constitution was in anyone's mind at the time. But the British objective was to get the arms that were stockpiled in Concord.
BLOCK: So you think basically, on the whole, Sarah Palin got her history right.
Prof. ALLISON: Well, yeah, she did. And remember, she is a politician. She's not an historian. And God help us when historians start acting like politicians, and I suppose when politicians start writing history. "
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/06/137011636/how-accurate-were-palins-comments-on-paul-revere
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/of-snake-oil-puff-balls-a_b_876536.html
Labor needs to make a major comeback in America. Boko has some good stuff to say about that.
R
As I see it, Barak Obama will almost certainly be a one-term president. Jobs, or more precisely, the lack of jobs, truly will be his downfall.
But the sad truth, which most people prefer not to acknowledge, is that there will never, ever again be enough “jobs” for everyone who needs and wants one—especially the “grunt jobs” that are most needed. Grunt jobs—moderate skill level jobs—are what use to keep America running. They were the jobs people had to support a family. They are gone—and will never return.
It simply makes no sense to pay American workers wages sufficient to support a family, to do grunt work. Corporate execs will send those kinds of jobs to third world countries for doing by coolies being paid coolie wages—at least until our technology evolves to the point where machines, robots, and computers make even those poorly paid bastards prohibitively expensive.
But make no mistake about it, jobs of the type most Americans need (moderate skill; reasonable pay) are gonna be scarce as hen’s teeth from now until the day the sun runs out of fuel. Obama will not create them—nor will he create an environment in which the private sector will create them. Same applies to all the other contenders for the office he now holds.
Like I said, my guess is that Americans will be shortsighted—as they so often are. They will use the excuse that Obama did not create enough jobs nor create the environment in which the private sector created enough jobs—and they will throw him out in favor of one of those empty suits (or dresses) the Republicans will be serving up.
The only redeeming factor, in my opinion, is that we do not deserve someone as decent, intelligent and pragmatic as Barak Obama.
We deserve what the other side will give us.
We deserve what we are going to get.
There isn't.
They're all idiots and narcissists.
The media wants to stoke the notion of a "cliff-hanger" to produce ratings. Unless something totally out of the blue transpires this election is over and Obama wins a second term in a walk.
I do agree with the assessments that the unemployment numbers will impact this election significantly. However, with no politicians offering any real solutions that will put people back to work whomever is elected may also be a one term wonder as well.
David, you brought up some great points about China and manufacturing. I only wish more people would recognize what has been happening for years!
Your feedback is welcome!