Thursday, October 31, 2013

Five days away. . . five years later

I think Obama was in Colorado when he announced America was close  to being fundamentally transformed, with a back drop of beautiful scenery and weather, speaking to a well heeled population, median household income $57,000. They cheered and swooned. Finally, FDR's dream would come true!  Married families with children in that state had an income over $83,000 in 2008.  But of course, the figure was low for single moms with children many of whom were minorities.  Well, duh. Even in paradise, it seems there are rules for living.

But he was going to change all that--or so he promised--by transferring even more wealth than had been moved since the 60s in LBJ’s  War on Poverty.  But this crowd wasn't poor.  They just wanted more. Here we are 5 years later, minorities and women have made the least progress, labor force participation is at a record low, yet they still love him and know in their hearts that it just isn't his fault.  It was Bush, or the GOP, or the Tea Party, or staff who kept him in the dark so he couldn't achieve all those wonderful things he really wanted with other people's money, so of course he needed to play golf more.

And now many in the same crowd, at least if they are self-employed  or are a spouse of a retiree purchasing her own health insurance, are seeing more of their income being taken so others can have more. That’s the focus this week, but whether you’re talking political polarization, energy, race relations, unemployment, education, etc., he’s pushing the whole nation downward in spirit, in morality, in wealth, and in world opinion in leadership.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/10/01/obama_transforming_america_120170.html

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/popp/100206

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