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Campaign
2010: Where to Put Blame
by Robert Parry
Excerpt:
Perhaps the biggest political question in 2010
is whether the American people will blame the nation’s mess on the
long-term impact of Ronald Reagan's "government
is the problem" ideology (and on his successors from the Bush Family)
– or on Barack Obama for not solving enough of
the problems in less than two years.
The Republicans hope that public impatience with
Obama will work to their advantage, while the Democrats must pray
that the voters will recognize that the mess
developed over several decades and that it makes little sense to hand power
back to the party that dominated those years
of national decline.
While most smart money is on the American people’s
famous lack of historical memory (thus favoring the Republicans),
there is a case to be made that it was Reaganism
– a combination of anti-government ideology at home and tough-guy
policies abroad – which led to many problems
that America now faces.
Over the past 30 years, Reaganism and its spinoffs
under George H.W. and George W. Bush caused or contributed to:
Deregulation of corporations, union-busting,
tax cuts for the wealthy, a shrinking middle class, lost manufacturing
jobs,
unprecedented federal debt, unbridled Wall Street
greed, bubble-and-bust cycles, the worst recession since the
Great Depression, two unfinished wars, erosion
of civil liberties, environmental degradation, and a continued
dependence on fossil fuels, especially foreign
oil.
Yet, many U.S. pundits suggest that the American
people are up in arms, Tea Party-style, against Big Government,
that they want more unrestrained capitalism,
less regulation of Wall Street banks, continued freedom for health insurance
companies to operate as they wish, more tax cuts
tilted toward the well-to-do, reductions in social programs like
Social Security and Medicare, more belligerence
toward enemies abroad – in short, more Reaganism.
So far, however, this analysis has not been confirmed
by election results, including those on Tuesday. To the surprise
of many pundits, a relatively conservative blue-collar
district in Pennsylvania, which voted against Obama in 2008, e
lected Democrat Mark Critz to fill the seat of
the late Rep. John Murtha, a Democrat who used government programs
to get his constituents jobs.
The ship hit the iceberg while Bush was in charge
and had been for seven years
and now they want to blame Obama for the ship
taking water?
He's right, tho...
The Democrats can always find a way to remain
silent about the blame.