Okay, so now we finally know: Barack Obama is an American. (Well, he's a Hawaiian actually, but I suppose we can put any lingering sovereignty issues aside for the moment.) In a startling revelation sure to send chills up the virtual spines of rightwing operatives everywhere, the President delivered a speech from the White House asserting in persuasively proactive fashion that indeed, "people have seen [my] birth certificate."
Whew. Let's all take a deep breath at the majesty of the moment. He's one of us, after all...
Except not so much. Obama's national origins are less problematic than his plans for the nation's future. While the birthers and state-house hacks obsess over his convoluted neonatal underpinnings, far greater matters percolate at the President's behest. To his credit, Obama's speech referenced precisely this sense of distraction and obfuscation that serves to undermine genuine progress on more pressing concerns:
"We're not going to be able to do it if we are distracted. We're not going to be able to do it if we spend time vilifying each other. We're not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers."
Good words, but there's a fundamental problem lurking in the shadows. To wit: he doesn't really mean it.
I'd like to think he does, of course, but after the inevitable letdown from his campaign rhetoric to the realities of governance, it's hard to muster even a modicum of faith in the messenger at this point. Obama ran as a progressive on myriad issues, from war and the economy to healthcare and human rights. What we got instead is a Wall Street crony and war-machine acolyte who seems content to bail water with a thimble while the Titanic continues its inevitable submersion.
It's particularly telling that the major legislative achievement of his administration has been a sham healthcare bill that privatizes personal risks while socializing public profits into corporate hands. Did he end the war in Iraq? Sort of, unless you count all the private contractors and military bases still in operation there (not to mention the seamless shift of major fronts over to Afghanistan). Did he close Guantanamo? Only to the pursuit of transparency and justice. Did he save the economy with bailouts? Perhaps, but the economy he "saved" isn't the one we ever actually wanted.
With the reelection campaign ready to begin in earnest, it's worth asking to see President Obama's progressive credentials before the Democratic wagons begin circling around us. It seems quite likely that the biggest selling point for continuing with the present administration will be that the other side's version will be a lot worse. But the basic strategy of "I'm not the other guy" leaves a major question lingering in the air, namely: Who are you, then?
On some level, I think the President is aware of the ironies here. In his birth-defense speech, he talks about substantive issues including education, infrastructure, and the future that we're leaving for our children. This isn't the same sort of tin-ear lassitude we got from the previous administration. Obama's virtue is that he sees the crises and isn't above letting us know:
"We've got some enormous challenges out there. There are a lot of folks out there who are still looking for work. Everybody is still suffering under high gas prices. We're going to have to make a series of very difficult decisions about how we invest in our future but also get a hold of our deficit and our debt -- how do we do that in a balanced way."
But seeing and believing are two different things. The birthers can look at Obama's birth certificate forever and still not believe he's an American. By the same token, progressives may be tempted to believe he's on the side of justice and equality, yet will oftentimes reject the contravening evidence right before their eyes.
Now that we can rest easy about his innate Americanness, let's actually hold the President accountable to pursue the highest ideals that define the national enterprise.
Follow Randall Amster on Twitter: www.twitter.com/randallamster
Or is it?
And how many folks at the MMS got fired after the gulf oil spill?
I vote that we give honest hard working middle class taxpayers in Dockers or bib overalls millions of dollars, instead of Brooks Brother suit-wearing crooked, failed and irresponsible bankers millions of dollars for sitting around all day long making devastatingly bad decisions.
We will see the economy turn around as soon as we start seeing failed execs at TARP-funded money center banks walking out of their place of employment with a pink slip in one hand and a cardboard box filled with their personal effects in the other hand and a dazed look on their face, as they post the Space Available sign on their shuttered money center bank headquarters building. That is when things will turn around, and if Obama can't make that happen, we need to replace him with someone else that can make good decisions.
LOL
There's an old saying, "Divided we fall, united we stand." We're not getting anywhere when we bully, bicker and obfuscate. Do Americans have the courage to stand united to get through this crisis? It doesn't look good.
OK, let me get this straight, The Federal Government is bailing out car companies so that they can build more cars people can’t afford to buy, Sending trillions of our tax dollars to financial institutions. and bailing out banks who have all the money anyway while they continue to cry ‘poor mouth. Did I miss something?
We don’t produce anything anymore, we’ve given it all away to foreign companies. Over the years have laid off millions of our own workers. Just look around you at business closings, bankruptcies and foreclosures and illegal’s who have overrun our country. No one has the power to stop greed. The inept political process in this country has all but killed our economy. Our future is now in the hands of a ‘Clown Car’ government. This country was built on entrepreneurial sprit, mobility and self determination, not government interference and regulation. We have an embarrassing President who hasn’t accomplished anything since he’s been in office. He’s presented with a Nobel Peace Prize for doing what?
Folks, we are in dire straights and being led down the path to economic slaughter. The government is being set up to dictate your every move. If you voted for this socialistic regime, you are about to get what you voted for. The only way we can stop this personal encroachment on our freedoms is to stand up, get involved, vote and be counted. Don’t complain when it’s too late.
God help us!
LOL
Why not find other sources of revenue? Today’s (Sunday, May 1, 2011) New York Time’s article entitled “Geithner’s Loophole” reported that there’s a $4-trillion-a-day derivative market. Annually that’s about a $1.44 quadrillion a year.
If a proportional rate tax were in effect, and the buyer and seller each paid a 5% rate for their transaction (seller sells, buyer buys), that would generate about $144 trillion to the treasury.
So why isn’t Obama or Congress or both, proposing just such a tax? Adam Smith, the father of capitalism proposed a similar proportional tax. Alexander Hamilton proposed that the movement of money be taxed proportionally.
Is anybody in Washington going to stand up for American values? Or, aside from the birther issue, is Washington just going to wring its hands and continually harp about a “deficit”?
Hard data,suggests USA a more dumbed down nation each years, where "finance, government, history, currency AKA well rounded educations are "just boring stuff I will never use". Result of years of "boring stuff we ignored", most do not only not care, but do not have a clue on how to do compound interests, much less understand basics of any money issue.
We are simply being feed headline by generally useless media, whom never took "Boring courses", a commoner appetite for sports/celebs as know more of them then reality. Education now openly under budget attack, as hypocrites "worry about debt for kids, but not world class competitive education. For years we have not vote FOR candidates, rather "AGAINST, since most lack backbone/ability to question well, listens better as might dissolve partisan smoke screen so popular now.
2012, will again be a "best vote against them, yet really do not want to vote for him, little choice. Yet, to the West, big Dragon China keeps feeding, growing bigger, USA dumber fatter tasty target