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Obama, Bitterness, Meet the Press, and the Old Politics
I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 61 years ago. My father sold $1.98 cotton blouses to blue-collar women and women whose husbands worked in factories. Years later, I was secretary of labor of the United States, and I tried the best I could -- which wasn't nearly good enough -- to help reverse one of the most troublesome trends America has faced: The stagnation of middle-class wages and the expansion of poverty. Male hourly wages began to drop in the early 1970s, adjusted for inflation. The average man in his 30s is earning less than his father did thirty years ago. Yet America is far richer. Where did the money go? To the top.
Are Americans who have been left behind frustrated? Of course. And their frustrations, their anger and, yes, sometimes their bitterness, have been used since then -- by demagogues, by nationalists and xenophobes, by radical conservatives, by political nuts and fanatical fruitcakes -- to blame immigrants and foreign traders, to blame blacks and the poor, to blame "liberal elites," to blame anyone and anything.
Rather than counter all this, the American media have wallowed in it. Some, like Fox News and talk radio, have given the haters and blamers their very own megaphones. The rest have merely "reported on" it. Instead of focusing on how to get Americans good jobs again; instead of admitting too many of our schools are failing and our kids are falling behind their contemporaries in Europe, Japan, and even China; instead of showing why we need a more progressive tax system to finance better schools and access to health care, and green technologies that might create new manufacturing jobs, our national discussion has been mired in the old politics.
Listen to this morning's "Meet the Press" if you want an example. Tim Russert, one of the smartest guys on television, interviewed four political consultants -- Carville and Matalin, Bob Schrum, and Michael Murphy. Political consultants are paid huge sums to help politicians spin words and avoid real talk. They're part of the problem. And what do Russert and these four consultants talk about? The potential damage to Barack Obama from saying that lots of people in Pennsylvania are bitter that the economy has left them behind; about HRC's spin on Obama's words (he's an "elitist," she said); and John McCain's similarly puerile attack.
Does Russert really believe he's doing the nation a service for this parade of spin doctors talking about potential spins and the spin-offs from the words Obama used to state what everyone knows is true? Or is Russert merely in the business of selling TV airtime for a network that doesn't give a hoot about its supposed commitment to the public interest but wants to up its ratings by pandering to the nation's ongoing desire for gladiator entertainment instead of real talk about real problems?
We're heading into the worst economic crisis in a half century or more. Many of the Americans who have been getting nowhere for decades are in even deeper trouble. Large numbers of people in Pennsylvania and across the nation are losing their homes and losing their jobs, and the situation is likely to grow worse. Consumers are at the end of their ropes, fuel and food costs are skyrocketing, they can't go deeper into debt, they can't pay their bills. They aren't buying, which means every business from the auto industry to housing to even giant GE is hurting. Which means they'll begin laying off more people, and as they do, we will experience an even more dangerous downward spiral.
Bitter? You ain't seen nothing yet. And as much as people like Russert, Carville, Matalin, Schrum, and Murphy want to divert our attention from what's really happening; as much as HRC and McCain seek to make political hay out of choices of words that can be spun cynically by the mindless spinners of the old politics; as much as demagogues on the right and left continue to try to channel the cumulative frustrations of Americans into a politics of resentment -- all these attempts will, I hope, prove futile. Eighty percent of Americans know the nation is on the wrong track. The old politics, and the old media that feeds it, are irrelevant now.
Robert Reich, one of the nation’s leading experts on work and the economy, is Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. Time Magazine has named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written thirteen books, including his latest best-seller, Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future; The Work of Nations; Locked in the Cabinet; Supercapitalism; and his newest, Beyond Outrage. His syndicated columns, television appearances, and public radio commentaries reach millions of people each week. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, and Chairman of the citizen’s group Common Cause. His widely-read blog can be found at www.robertreich.org.
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179 Comments so far
Show AllIn the 3 days that Obama made his "bitter" remarks he collected $2.7 mil from the elites in Atherton, SF and Marin.
So much for Michelle's recent comment that Obama's campaign is primarily funded by everyday people.
Speak the TRUTH!
Old Terrorists? really? I'd like that one explained as well.
I agree with Bill from Saginaw.People are waking up to what really goes on in this country and how little the people count.
It is fascinating that that the MSM portrays Obama's comments as so heinous yet McCain's truly frigthtening rhetoric is overlooked for the most part.
Obama dared to tell the truth about race and economic injustice...we are not all happy out here in reality-land.
Well put evelyna and rose. We see the economic injustice, and that's what I'm waiting to hear Obama address, not the fact that people are bitter about it and going to church to escape the pain of their struggles. Many of us realize we have been sold down the river, and know the problem is not only in our heads, especially when we're making a fraction of what we used to, and no longer have any health care.
It is a marvelous opportunity for Obama to start discussing real solutions, but I think that he cannot because he's more beholden to corporate money and interests than we'd like to believe.
I think that, in many respects, Obama is a cynical triangulator. And this is a considerable shame because he is bright and worldly enough to know better--- having lived abroad and worked as a community organizer, he probably has access to perspectives that McCain and Clinto do not. The bitterness comment was probably and unscripted moment of candor in an otherwise carefully orchestrated campaign. Nonetheless, I happen to believe that in this matter, he is quite correct. Clinton and McCain have taken his fairly straightforward observation --- that individuals regress from social to personal concerns when they feel that they as individuals cannot impact the social realm --- and have reframed it to appear as if Obama had attacked the working class. I do not for one moment believe that he is a savior for either blue collar or middle class America. But, he is correct, that many people are bitter. And increasingly, these are educated individuals, who have pursued graduate degrees or professional degrees and who cannot attain even a modicum of prosperity. At the other end of the scale, the NY Times ran a truly revolting story on the conspicuous consumerism of our privileged elite. And, these are by no means the best and the brightest. These are simply individual who, almost as a matter of pure happenstance, have been favored by a deeply corrupted and benighted system. I believe that, in undoing any semblance of a social compact, America is devolving into a Third World country, and it can expect the social unrest that comes with such a development. Moreover, I predict that in the next few years, we will see increasing numbers of Americans emigrating, both young and middle aged people looking for work, and the elderly looking to survive in a society that lacks socialized medicine and anything resembling a safety net. This will create a brain drain, and exarcerbate our descent into the status of a banana republic.
Remember, all the media feeding on this beat-up are the same people who got behind GWB on the invasion of Iraq and we know how right they were about that.
It's "Prime Time" on a Tuesday evening and I'm sitting in the heartland reading Commondreams blog posts. Couldn't be happier. I have no interest in MSM.
In a few minutes I'll get up and go read some more from Obama's "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from My Father." Such excellent prose in both volumes!
Intelligent, eloquent, principled, a leader, Obama impresses me.
Peace and love from Iowa.
"Moreover, I predict that in the next few years, we will see increasing numbers of Americans emigrating, both young and middle aged people looking for work, and the elderly looking to survive in a society that lacks socialized medicine and anything resembling a safety net. This will create a brain drain, and exacerbate our descent into the status of a banana republic."
--Well said, and this might be in our not so distant future. I hate to say it, but our descent may ultimately be good for the world at large, especially if it means the shrinkage of our military and its involvement on other shores, as well as the economic exploitation that has occurred for decades.
On the other hand, depending upon who's in office, it could well lead to nuclear war. America is definitely facing a period of dramatic transition. Will we choose to build from the ashes or go out with a bang?
That gaggle of misleading spin artists wasn't complete, of course. Russert should have procured Lou Dobbs from CNN: he is one of the most twisted of them all, given prime time every evening by CNN to do damage to people and issues. His work on immigration is a classic which even Fox news couldn't equal. He whipped up an anti-immigrant frenzy of tsunami proportions before the issue finally moved to a back burner. And he loves to dwell on how much trouble Obama is in.
Here is Obamas statement that caused an uproar. Sure he told a truth in that people are bitter their good paying jobs were gone, but people forget the last part of what he said.
""You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." "
The most important part is in what he said they cling to, he seems to think these are negatives.
guns (I was too until the fascists took over, and the UN wants to ban them)
religion (communists want to eliminate faith based religion)
anti-immigrant sentiment (duh, why do we need immigrants today, esp illegal, since they keep wages low)
anti-trade sentiment (free trade is what caused the jobs to go away)
Message from Obama. "I recognize you are bitter" and as Cheney said: "So?"
Basically, as the Trilateralists said from the early 70's, the price of globalization is going to require Americans to have a lower standard of living, and so, Americans today are bitter, but globalization must come first. The other hidden mesage from Obama: "I am going to take way what you are clinging to".
Robert Reich states the obvious, that the money that's not going into middle class salaries is going "to the top", into the hands of the corporate elites, the wealthiest 1%. Very little of the corporate elite's money shows up on the Gross Adjusted Income (GAI)line of a tax return. It's all stock options, and capital gains and other kinds of income that largely escapes the GAI. Yet all the "tax reform" talk is about increasing or decreasing the marginal rates on GAI. Until we make the capital gains tax progressive, like the tax on earned income, the elites will continue to pull more and more of the nation's wealth away from the rest of us. In the 1950's the wealthiest 1% owned 20% of the nation's wealth. Now they own in excess of 40%. The Spanish, Dutch and British Empires all fell when 40% of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest 1%. History says America is screwed if we don't fix this problem.
Reich is right on when he attacks the press, but he must first disavow his support for globalization before I consider him a champion and spokesman for the working class.
At any rate, what the heck is he doing calling Tim Russert "one of the smartest guys on tv"? Of course Russert does not believe he's doing the country a service! The spin is damaging and mean-spirited.
With regard to drbnp48's comment regarding the fall of Spanish, Dutch and British Empires, - remember this - empires rise and fall but for the most part the wealthy continue to survide with their wealth mostly intact. It is the people who suffer when empires fall
"Eighty percent of Americans know the nation is on the wrong track.
Bitter? You ain't seen nothing yet."
Yeah, we know! All those detention centers that Homeland Security is building will become the new homes for the bitter and homeless. The timing couldn't be more perfect. Does the government have a crystal ball they consult or is the coming economic meltdown something that was planned?
The Nation is on the wrong track.......The problems we face are global !
Too many people competing for too few resources,,and the greedy wealthy 1% of the world are doing nothing but making more wealth.
My soul simply shudders to think about a WWIII.
ESCAPE to canada as fast as you can.... RUN .. flee.. Flee Flee
MimiCcS:
I think they have a place for you on FOX.
You spun what he said like a pro.
In today's world we are all clinging to something...that is reality not an insult.
Get it right...Cheney said "SO" not Obama!Once again it depends on what one considers a "terrible" comment and how one spins.
Unless you're a Native American you're an immigrant.Immigrants enrich our country...Corporate greed keeps wages low but you've got the right mindset blame it on the immigrants and embrace outsourcing as something we need.
Reich agrees with Obama's assertion that the bitterness of irrational Small America is responsible for resistance to U.S. trade deals, for wanting to control illegal immigration, for wanting to keep guns and for going to church.
He underestimates the intelligence and common-sense of us fly-overs, for we see trading partners allowed to keep their protective tariffs while we must remove ours and our manufacturing and jobs sent to them as well, we see WITH OUR OWN EYES jobs our neighbors, friends and children used to do until being replaced by illegals for 1/4 the wage. We hunt and revere our constitutional right to have arms. We go to church because becauise it is the social center of our community; you see more religious radicals in the city-South Chicago, for example. If Reich, with Obama, thinks our attitudes are due to irrational bitterness, he is possessed of the same Eastern Ivy-league, elitist, ignorance of American culture as Obama.
Reich, get out of your ivy league office and your beltway run and get acquainted with what you talk about--American citizenry of the ilk that started this nation.
"Does Russert really believe he's doing the nation a service for this parade of spin doctors talking about potential spins and the spin-offs from the words Obama used to state what everyone knows is true?"
The question really is, does Russert really care whether he's doing the nation a service or not? Do the rest of the stenographers to power, the media whore, care? Or, are they in it for the money and the fun and screw the nation?
It's imperative that WE remember, as we prepare to wave goodbye to this ship called Experiment In Democracy, that it has not been mortally wounded by natural causes - it was stabbed in the back. It's also imperative to remember that the people who have done this have names and addresses. Remember what these people have done to our country and to our future. Remember.
That Hillary, she got a law degree, wealth, an ex-prez of a husband and his millions, used to sit on the board of Walmart, and has been spending millions of them green backs to campaign for that presidential nomination, and then she goes around telling us that Obama is an elitist.
What does it take to do something like that? A solid dose of denial or stupidity, a combination of both, or just plain shameless cynicism ("eh, the hoi polloi of Pennsylvania, they're so emotional about their bitterness and so sentimental, they won't notice")?
Bill Moyers should host meet the press.
Peacegurl - right on sister.
Bitter? OK maybe a little bitter, but more like discouraged. I work much harder at my full time job, plus also moonlight as a writer and a musician and I still make less than I did working a single job in the 1980s. Professional public service/non-profit sector pay is so low one person can hardly live on it, never mind raise kids on it.
Teachers waitress on the weekends and police officers also work as security guards.
People with two and three jobs are not making it.... I suppose people may indeed be bitter but they are too dang busy getting food on the table and shoes on their kids' feet to do much about it. One illness or medical issue and your economic health is shot.
Meanwhile earnings for the richest among us are riding higher than we could have even imagined only a few years ago.
Bless Obama for saying it out loud; shame on those who make political hay out of it instead of hearing what he really said and what real working people are saying about it. OK, Obama was clumsy and not exactly on target with his words, maybe he'll pay for that, but it seems not. The message is a valid one. It's unfair that some work so hard for so little -- and bitterness is not a surprising result. It is surely a dangerous one.
That being said, I want to say that I don't live bitter... I just deal the best I can, I do work a lot, live pretty simply and try not to worry too much about the economics even though it hangs over my head sometimes. But those of us whose ends don't meet know that the day will come when we have to face the financial music.
Obama is speaking to us in this regard. Yes, Peacegurl, we are the educated poor. Some of us find solace and support in religion, sure. Some of us find comfort in other things. For me, it's music. Keep singin', friends. Songs have been known to drive change before... we shall....
"instead of showing why we need a more progressive tax system"
I am waiting for the Robert Reich's of the world to stoptalking about "tax systems"; stop making themselves such an easy target for right wing political spin...and start talking about removing rampant government corporate giveaways as the first step toward reducing taxes...It is such a no-brainer. COME ON ROBERT...SPEAK UP ABOUT IT!!!
C'mon it's pretty obvious, McCain and Hillary are identical, if you merged the two or if they spawned, the offspring would be a mini guiliani for crying out loud. Out here in the Central Valley (red part of blue state), more and more Dems going to the Obama route. Hillary tactics are revolting if not Rove-esque and those in middle would not support her and lean or stay in GOP column in Nov. What shame. I'm still a staunch Kucinich man (then Edwards) but let's get real, HC has proven no depths too low and no innuendo off limits for her quest for the White House Throne. She's desperate and it's sad. Wait til the fall and see McCain fall by the wayside. If Hillary somehow pulls off the DEM nomination, great, another GOP victory and more of the same either way.
Just who are these "demagogues of the left"? I want to vote for one.
Obama's comment wouldn't have made a ripple if someone on his staff had noticed that Bill said the same thing back in '92.
I'm sure some above have already said they stopped watching MTP some time ago. Tell NBC/MSNBC you're not watching anymore and why. steve.capus@nbc.com; phil.griffin@nbc.com; letters@msnbc.com; viewerservices@msnbc.com
Well at least he didn't say they cling to religion, guns, alchohol, and drugs.... (probably got a few donations from....)
When things go bad, there's only 3 choices...hope, dope, or the rope.
Marx and Obama. Two days ago. William Kristol
Obama and Elitism. (a hatchet-job) Today M. Dowd
The New York Times. Obama is a Communist!
Cool. I'll vote for him now.
How soon they forget...
I spent my first 38 years in "small town America" and remember how systematically the paper mills and the industrial plants closed down and moved to the South to escape the unions... eventually escaping to Mexico, India and Communist China... leaving tens of thousands out of work and desperate to support their families...
One of the first signs of trouble in small town America was the rise of survivalist groups and anti-governement groups like the Michigan Militia or the Posse Comitatus Group...
The TV evangelists and fundamentalist preachers found fertile ground to bleed the people of what little they had left, followed by the politicians who were happy to promise that "things would get better if we just let the rich folks pay fewer taxes"... naturally the rich folks would then invest their excess money and put everyone back to work!
Two or three decades later and it still hasn't gotten any better... and you can damn bet that there are a LOT of bitter and angry people in those small towns!
Personally, I think ANYONE who keeps ranting about "Obama's big insult" is either racist or has someone they would personally rather see elected!
Anyone still watching the cherubic snake oil salesman on MTP deserves disappointment.
Hey Mr "big mouth Bojangles". You say I'm a liar and should not be allowed to post in this forum. Okay Mr dictator, ___ run me off. You work for Cheney or Rove?
You say I post lies. That 20 point drop for Obama was in Pennsylvania Monday evening, according to every news channel. I didn't watch any news today.
Enjoy ourself MR know it all. BTW, I wasn't condemming Obama, I was stating facts as I know them. He said the words and that's his screw up. I find people like you here at CD to be so unfit for anyone, but your're allowed to post anything you please as far as I'm concerned. Rave on idiot.
Joe Toxic,
Hillary and McCain having sex is a disturbing thought. At birth, wouldn't their offspring qualify for a driver's license?
gest901,
You are referring to McCain, right??
WHO is behind the Barack Obama for President
"moo-vement"?
.................. GE ......................
and a gaggle of other corporate elitists.
Are a lot of working class Americans Bitter?
Well, they SHOULD be: Another GE candidate for President SOLD to the public by the Corporate-Controlled "Mainstream MEDIA ... Ronald Reagan ... began the MASSIVE Robbery of the American people that has continued to this day.
About every day,& sometimes several times a day, the TV Talking heads say: "The Rich are getting richer and everybody else is getting poorer"
... & You'd Think ... after nearly 30 years they would FINALLY ASK: ( & Answer) WHY?
The answer is simple: Reagan cut the top tax rate down from the 70%'s to the low 30%'s.
(If you made $100 million & your tax rate was 70% you would pay $70 million to Uncle Sam & keep $30 million ... earning interest, or dividends THE NEXT YEAR on that $30 million. If, instead, you paid $30 million in taxes and KEPT $70 million --- You'd make a lot MORE money the next year on that $70 million - in interest, or dividends)
Simple, tax the rich a lot less AND they damn sure WILL get a whole lot richer a whole lot faster.
There was 2 PARTS to Reaganomics tho. The second part was: The Two-Tier Wage Structure"
i.e. Pay the Top level "executives" a Whole LOT MORE; Pay everybody else a Whole LOT LESS. (Newspapers & TV in the early 80's had articles & coverage of the "Two-Tier Wage Structure" that CORPORATE America trotted out IN CONCERT with Reagan's election & tax cuts.)
IF its CORPORATE POLICY to PAY Everybody else a WHOLE LOT LESS ... everybody else is going to get ... a whole lot poorer ... huh.
a. It was deliberate. b. Its been going on for nearly 30 years.
Next Question: Is Obama likely to fix it?
Answer: Hell No. Because THE SAME PEOPLE are running him for President - The SAME WAY they got Reagan/ Bush1 / Bush2 elected: MEDIA PROPAGANDA.
GE owns MSNBC & NBC. AOL Time Warner owns CNN. Westinghouse owns CBS.
(GE is the 2nd largest corporation on the planet).
They have interlocking directorships. THEY ARE the Corporate-Controllers of the Corporate-Controlled Media.
MSNBC/NBC have become the CHIEF propaganda mouthpiece of the Obama Pushers ... (BOPN - Barack Obama Propagands Networks) - just like FOX has been the the Bush Propaganda Network all these years.
There are no more Journalists, no more NEWS People. They have all become court jesters and clowns doing their bit to please their corporate masters ..Top Level PAID A WHOLE LOT MORE -----------Media whores.
Here's a glimpse of one of the $Billions of Dollar TAXPAYER RIPOFF Reasons GE wants to "elect" Obama President: GE & Westinghouse are in the business of building nuclear power plants.
The Cheney Energy Bill passed in 2005 - made it possible for the nuclear industry to begin planning to build 29 new nuclear power plants (licensing hearings are already scheduled for the first few of them).
No new nuke plants were built for 30 years because the banks wouldn't loan the money - too risky. The Cheney Energy Bill solved that problem for them by Guaranteeing TAXPAYER PAYBACK of any of the nuke building loans that default (The Congressional Budget Office rated the risk of default at 50% or greater".
Obama voted FOR the Cheney Energy Bill. Clinton voted against. Clinton says her Energy plan does not include nuclear & if they want to be considered in the future they will have to FIRST Make it Cheaper and find a safe way to dispose of the nuke waste.
McCain, this week on the Campaign trail said ... we just have to face it we need to start building new, CLEAN, nuclear power plants.
i.e. The Corporate Elitists are running OBAMA AND McCain for President.
("Getting off coal to go to nuclear is like giving up cigarettes to take up smoking crack".)
~ELME~ a very interesting and very disturbing and unarguable post. You are totally correct.
But wait awhile, some prick like ~BOJANGLES~ will say you're a neo-con paid troll or shill or some such thing\ and tell everyone that you should be forever shunned or tossed to the lions.
I've found that to be a "progresive" here at C/D, you have to fully support Obana, hate Hillary, but never admit to using the awful hate word.
It's alright to write fuck, but only like this, F##k. Never write "fuck" and "you" in conjunction.
If any attack you or smear you, call you a troll or a liar, you must either ignore them, or answer politley and sort of kiss their ass. It's proper to piss off at least one other progresive, but only once a week.
It helps if you believe in the use of mind altering drugs and are a vegetarian. Be as careful as possible with your spelling and grammer and the use of commas and ', and "" correctly.
NEVER, EVER admit if you ever voted for any republican, and it's very good to love Ralph Nader or Dennis Kucinich. It's better to dislike Al Gore for his treacherous actions of going along with the Supreme Court's vote on the Florida deal. He should have fought it and taken it to a higher court, or committed hari-kari.
That's the higher status of progressive rules. There are a few more, but that about covers the important ones. Oh, you don't have to blog on the very important enviromental issues, such as gloobal warming, DU, the methane gas issue, dying birds or whales. It's alright to do so, but most high echelon progressives don't bother.
An Obama thread like this, hit it, but don't say anything bad about Obama. Never, you'll be shunned. So, ___ you are in trouble now, these guys and gals all want to hear the truth, ___ but not that truth.
Targetting Obama for pointing out bitterness in the American body-politic is a little like targetting Gore for pointing out bitterness in the outlook for Global Warming, or targetting Carter for pointing out bitterness among Palestinians who, sadly, support terrorist organizations like Hamas who nevertheless work to help their plight.
There's alot of bitterness in the world. As long as the job of the media is to TARGET those who point it out as though they were the ones who CAUSED it, that bitterness will deepen and metasticize.
As will everything else, Reich has it right! Damn, HE should be president, with Paul Krugman as VP! Time we got some actual economists in there. They would address that debt, and the perniciousnous of campaign finance reform as well.
for those of us naive enough to believe it might be read seriously, Meet the Press has a place to leave comments for Tim Russert at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6872152/
Violence is the voice of marginalized people. The utterance of truthful words resulting in an immediate volley of propaganda from the corporate elites via their megaphone PR agencies is clear evidence of mind control. Corporate interests have been so successful in propagandizing the American People that people are acting against their own best interests. The greed and corruption at the top rests on lies and deception, not a good foundation. We are in the process of the resulting collapse and are just now beginning to see it accelerate. This quickening is a result of predicted forces beyond the understanding of most Western minds. We are moving from the information age to the Age of Wisdom. It is a kind of human evolution on steroids. Whether man as a species can adapt is an open question. Not adapting could result in the destruction of man. This change is measured in years not decades and it is upon us. We must not respond negatively to negativism, but instead act with wisdom in bringing the negativism into balance through positive wisdom. Those of us who do have the minds to comprehend this must lead by transcending the powerful forces of negativity to a new realm of creative balance. Negativity cannot be defeated but it can be balanced and brought into harmony. It is in the balance that wisdom will flourish and man will evolve and adapt. The year 2012 represents much more than most people understand. Even Science is awakening to it's transcendent meaning.
I don't live in the US, but it doesn't seem strange to me that people turn bitter when they see their lives ruined by big business and it's sister, DC politics. Obama used the right word, I think, and I don't think a couple of multi-millionaires are in a position to call him 'elitist' because of that. Talk about issues and not someone's choice of words.
THE PROBLEM WITH OUR POLITICS IS WE DO NOT READ ANY MORE . OUR INFORMATION COMES FROM THE MOUTHS OF POLITICIANS AND THEIR SURROGATES THAT HAVE BEEN PAID BY LOBBYIST LOBBYING FOR SOME ENTITY THAT WANTS OUR MONEY , JOBS , POSSESSIONS . THEY KNOW WE WILL NOT TAKE THE TIME TO INVESTIGATE WHO BENEFITS FROM A FREE TRADE AGREEMENT AND NO CORPORATE MEDIA IS GOING TO EXPLAIN WHAT HAPPENS WITH FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS . HAS ANY ONE COUNTED THE NUMBER OF FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS OUR GOVERNMENT HAS ENACTED IN TO LAW SINCE 1990 ? MOST OF THESE LAWS ARE MADE AS QUITELY AS POSSIBLE ATTACHED TO SOME OTHER ENACTED LAW WHILE THE MEDIA MAKES A LOT OF NOISE ABOUT SOME THING THAT WILL NOT BENEFIT IN US IN ANY WAY . THEY ARE GIVING OUR TAX MONEY TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES AT AN ALARMING RATE AND AT THE SAME TIME WE ARE BUYING FOREIGN GOODS AT AN ALARMING RATE REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF OUR MONEY IN CIRCULATION IN OUR COUNTRY . THOSE FOREIGN COUNTRIES THEN PAY LOBBYIST TO PAY "MEMBERS OF OUR GOVERNMENT" TO ENACT MORE OF THESE LAWS SO THEY CAN GET MORE OF OUR MONEY . A POWERFUL LOBBYIST IS ONE WITH GREAT INFLUENCE WITH OUR GOVERNMENT . NO ONE NOTICED THAT THE CLINTON/MCCAIN GROUPS ARE ALL WASHINGTON INSIDERS WITH STRONG TIES TO LOBBYIST . THAT IS WHERE THE REAL MONEY IS AND THEY HAVE THE MEDIA INFLUENCE TO NOT MAKE AN ISSUE OF THIS FACT . SO THE MEDIA INVENTS A DIVERSION TO GET OUR ATTENTION ELSE WHERE . OUR SMALL AND LARGE TOWNS ARE NOT GOING TO SEE THEIR JOBS RETURN UNTIL WE STOP SENDING OUR MONEY TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES BY NOT BUYING FOREIGN GOODS AND FORCE OUR POLITICIANS TO USE OUR TAX MONEY FOR DOMESTIC PURPOSES THAT CIRCULATES OUR MONEY HERE . WE MUST BEWARE OF THE WORDS "ISOLATIONISM" AND "SOCIALISM" . THOSE WORDS MEAN THAT THAT POLITICIAN HAS BEEN PAID BY LOBBYIST TO SHIP OUT MORE JOBS OR TO DO SOMETHING TO US WE WILL NOT LIKE . WE MUST GET OUR MONEY TO CIRCULATE IN OUR COUNTRY OR WE MUST INVEST IN THE LOBBYIST BEFORE THE MONEY IS ALL GONE . THAT IS HOW FDR DID IT .
Look at the huge output of comments for this article, then look at the meager numbers for other more important issues such as the "food crisis".
This is the problem, when this many peole have lost their minds to the TeleCulture, how can a democratic system function in the actual World where we continue to really Live?
I don't know the answer, do you?
-matti.
For the first time here in the Keystone state, there have been more "party shifts" than new registrations. Seems that Republicans are not "rubber stamping" Sen. McCain. They are going to get involved in the Democtatic primary....whatever their reasons.
I am in the conservative heartland along the Susquehanna. I see, hear, and could be considerred a political junkie.
This is what happenned to Obama.
Many republicans here would vote for a woman, just not "that" woman. Hillary was thought of as the enemy. But not any more.
Matters not what you think of religion...matters not...the bottom line is, not what he said of guns and religion..it is what the Rev? Wright spewed out of his hateful mouth last month.
Our rural areas, unlike the deep south, are full of blue collar, hard working, hard playing, and mostly caucasion people, who are, as a whole "color blind". But they're not "tone deaf".
Little children sat in his church and so did Obama's. What do they get from Wright's white-jew-and anything else hatred?
Obama lost my vote in the fall. Many, my father included, who is quite elderly but still very much "with-it", are now going to vote for Hillary. He switched parties for that very reason.
Obama WILL lose here 55% to 45%...thanx to Rev. Wright....and thats it.
He, barring a big 'goof up ' by Sen McCain, lose by the same in Nov. As
Walter Cronkite said....."and that's the way it is."
your friend banjoman
"instead of showing why we need a more progressive tax system to finance better schools and access to health care, and green technologies that might create new manufacturing jobs, our national discussion has been mired in the old politics"
Those green technology jobs can and will go overseas as fast or faster than the rest of our manufacturing capabilities have. Just creating new industries doesn't address the fundamental problem. That problem being that we cannot compete against communist countries like China that can pay their people 10 cents an hour and make it work because the communist government controls the price of everything from the cost of food, and transportation, to the cost of housing. Not to mention all of the other advantages they have with no OSHA, EPA, workmans comp. etc.
Lobo Gris
"Are Americans who have been left behind frustrated?"
Left behind? They haven't been left behind, they have been left out, with good paying manufacturing jobs being replaced with jobs at McDonald's and Home Depot.
Lobo Gris
As one of the layed-off masses terrorized, not by Islamic radicals but by BILLS, I am bitter. I too am bitter about a country becoming a police state to guard the plundering of the planet by a small clique. I'm bitter about a rotten system that denies us healthcare and any real social safety-net. I'm bitter about the low-paying and degrading nature of work and the dumbing down and disempowerment of our people that has allowed all this to happen. "Bitter" in fact hardly begins to describe it. Obama probably won't change anything but there is more of a chance that he will than either Clinton or McCain. He's got my vote.
Americans still respond to people who tell them what to think, bloody amazing. Who has got you into this appalling mess... yes the answer is... the GOP and GWB. Stop listening to the trivia being trust down your throat (yes, it appeals to common prejudice) and look at America's future. The Country is on the slide, a drastic change in direction is urgent, the West is holding its breath that commonsense will prevail.
Obama should stand by the core of truth in his words. He has to be a stand up guy. People are tired of spineless calculators who can be mowed down by spin and two minutes of bimbo buzz on the TV news. Or do I overerstimate the American people?
He should also be honest today meeting with Jewish labor leaders in PA. No more convenient and craven "I'll support Israel no matter what they are doing". He must say that peace in Israel depends on respecting the human rights of the Palestinians and depends on all of us pursuing policies of equality and justice.
We need people who will bite the bullet and tell us the truth. Otherwise the truth will come back and bite us.
(Jewish labor leaders? Peculiar. What next, Catholic labor leaders, Buddhist labor leaders, Italian-American labor leaders?)
ARYAONE: Interesting comments.
DOOM & GLOOM: I hear you friend. Inspired post.
Har Davids April 16th, 2008 4:09 am
"Obama used the right word, I think, and I don't think a couple of multi-millionaires are in a position to call him 'elitist' because of that. Talk about issues and not someone's choice of words."
Right on!
Bitter, schmitter. This is a hatchet job and an attempt to re-frame the message. Many people are bitter, to some degree or another. Losing our freedom to fascism and our families to war would cause one to be a little bitter, would it not? That is, if one is paying attention.
I think Obama said it perfectly. It is ears stuffed with personal agendas that heard it wrongly.
Great 1:39 post Kem.
Are we really awake all night reading these things and making comments. We should be in bed with a loved one, maybe dreaming of spring and our gardens.
Our brains are truly brainwashed and full of propaganda. It would be a good idea to give our brains a good scrubbing and airing out on the clothes line in a fresh breeze.
The Human Brain: 5% hope, 5% doom, 80% overwhelmed, and the rest the missing black mass.
I truly hope we have a purpose here on this world, more than just an overgrown destructive species.
I just love that word "bitter", sort of like "butter". Ah, one letter can change the world.
Betty Botter bought some butter
But she said the butter's bitter,
If I put it in my batter
It will make my batter bitter,
But a bit of better butter
That will make my batter better,
So she bought some better butter
Better than the bitter butter,
And she put it in her batter
And her batter was not bitter,
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.
Hope for better butter for us and all our brothers and sisters in the world. Then we will not be bitter.
Bless Obama for saying it out loud; shame on those who make political hay out of it instead of hearing what he really said and what real working people are saying about it. OK, Obama was clumsy and not exactly on target with his words, maybe he'll pay for that, but it seems not. The message is a valid one. It's unfair that some work so hard for so little — and bitterness is not a surprising result. It is surely a dangerous one.
--Ok, ok, we all know we have a problem, and do not enjoy being wages slaves. BUT we do NOT want any politician to tell us or imply that we've become racist, or xenophobic (these labels tend to dismissive and incendiary), or anti-free-trade for no valid reason, meaning he or she says "poo, poo," to the real concerns and challenges we face (and have faced), while shaking hands with his or her corporate and Wall Street friends (and campaign funders), while secretly laughing at our gullibility, telling them: "don't worry, these fools haven't a clue; it will be business as usual..."
It's quite telling that Nader supported John Edwards stand on the issues, but not Hillary's or Obama's. If politicians must lie to get elected, that's not strategy, that's more of the same corruption and lack of integrity. We say Obama is telling the truth. Well, ok, then, let's hear the WHOLE truth, followed by what he or she plans to do, or at least some tactics or strategy that is meaningful to the working class.
So far, all I've heard (in fairness to Obama) is that he wants to issue drivers licenses to undocumented workers, and repeal the tax breaks for corporations that outsource. The later is a good start, but not enough. All the 'free trade' agreements must be re-negotiated, or abolished. Why? Because presently they are exploiting all workers involved, not to mention raping the environment. Just take a gander at the level of pollution in Beijing! Further, HB-1 and 2 visas must at least be temporarily suspended.
I'm sorry, but as I listen to Obama, I see more 'fluff' than substance. I believe Nader and others have seen and see the same. I know we are all desperate for a change, feeling disillusioned and demoralized, and how difficult things have become. But are we clutching at the wrong straw. We want to believe, while we should instead looking at what we face objectively and, even more than that, searching our hearts for real understanding. While cheerleading by politicans may feel good, it will only lead to another dead-end road.