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 into 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 he 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 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. 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 if 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.
BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, David
A. Love, JD is a journalist and human rights advocate based
in Philadelphia, is a graduate of Harvard College and the University
of Pennsylvania Law School. and a contributor to The Huffington
Post, the Grio, The Progressive
Media Project, McClatchy-Tribune News Service,
In These
Times and Philadelphia
Independent Media Center. He also blogs at davidalove.com, NewsOne, Daily Kos, and Open Salon. Click here to contact Mr. Love.
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