Somehow more and more people are finding this site in the middle of cyberspace.  I have no idea how it happens, but it inspires me to keep writing, just in case someone would read something here and send it somewhere where it might do some good.  OK, you’re right, that’s a bit presumptuous – and, I’ll probably keep writing just because it makes me feel better as I observe the government of the country I love get consumed by corporate money.  Today at church, I spoke for a few moments with a couple REALLY GOOD MEN who have been out of work for several months (one of them for over a year).  These are skilled people, both in their fifties (both grandparents), and both in the same terrible situation which includes MILLIONS of good American citizens.  Neither of these guys can get an interview for a job –  both believe that their age prevents them from competing with the 300 or so applicants applying for every opportunity which comes along.

Both of these men have been a part of what I call the “Christian wrong” – most people call it the Christian “right.”  I say this because I’ve been fighting to keep my spiritual  beliefs in the face of an assault on our government by a group of people who use Christianity as a “tool” in enlisting millions of Americans who believe abortion is murder to unknowingly vote against their own self interests – thus turning many “liberals” totally against Christ (who was definitely, in my view, not a Republican).  They got swept up into a Republican party which is now showing it’s true colors (and, I’m not sure if my friends “get it” yet – despite the horrible shape of the economy) with loyalty oaths and a “lockstep” opposition to President Obama which will leave these two men and MILLIONS MORE LIKE THEM as victims if they succeed in causing our President to “fail” – as Rush Limbaugh so willingly puts it – as far as fixing the economy decimated by the previous administration.

The Republican party got derailed in its attempt to dismantle the New Deal of FDR – they’ve been working on this since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 – through the incompetence of George W Bush and Dick Cheney to cap off 30+ years of the ridiculously stupid “trickle down” economic theory which trickles “up” money from our economy into the hands of the corporate heads.  I say that with the caveat that it was just a matter of time until the “come-uppence” resulting from the corporate GREED permeating EVERYTHING the Republican party stands for became reality.  I mean, can you imagine where we’d be if John McCain and Sarah Palin were at “the controls.”  I watched McCain “blubbering” on the Senate floor the other day and it gave me shivers to think he could have been the President.  It’s hard for me to imagine anyone worse than Bush/Cheney – but, the Republicans managed to outdo themselves with the combo of McCain/Palin.

When I think about how Sarah Palin is backstabbing everyone she’s ever  been in contact with – and blaming her problems on the nearest person to her, worst than the sixth graders I deal with in school – I picture in my mind having a Vice President who’s got more ambition than brains backstabbing the person who picked her for the job and I just have to shake my head and be thankful they didn’t make it.  If you’ve been around here at all, you know that I’m not too happy with President Obama,  but again, CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE THE ALTERNATIVE?  And, with McCain in his mid seventies – Sarah Palin as President would be the Republican icing on the cake – that would GUARANTEE the demise of this great nation.  I mean she’s still going around proving she is TOTALLY UNQUALIFIED for national leadership EVERY TIME SHE OPENS HER MOUTH.  And, she comes up with some real childish ways to express her dissatisfaction with just about everyone.  The last picture I saw of Sarah, she was sitting on a beach in Hawaii with a McCain sun visor on with the “McCain” crossed out!  Talk about your cheap, low, ungrateful human being.  I mean, without John McCain, Sarah Palin would still be stuck in that “job” she apparently wasn’t too committed to up in Alaska.  This woman saw the opportunity for MONEY and showed herself to be a TRUE REPUBLICAN (and she’s got the very person she keeps backstabbing – McCain – to thank for all the money she’s making)!

That all being said, my two friends at church nodded approvingly when I mentioned that I thought it was time for the “New New Deal” that many of us “progressives” thought we would be getting with President Obama.  This is why I’ve been trying to point out my frustration with his “centrist” tendencies – RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING of his Presidency.  This is why I’ve recently written a couple posts regarding my frustration with Obama’s supporters – most notably Randi Rhodes – for their attacks on the disenchanted “liberals,” “progressives,” or whatever you want to call them (and me) – I suppose the likes of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc. would call us socialists, communists, or some other ill-conceived and incorrect term – in an attempt to deflect the national discussion away from the real solutions to MAJOR PROBLEMS.  Attention Democrats:  there’s a lot of us!

Unfortunately, the Obama administration and the Democratic party are so humg up on the health care bill presently being watered down into something that can get out of the senate that they’re taking what I call the “same old same old” approach to “fixing” the jobs problem in America.  We keep hearing the same rhetoric I’ve heard over my adult lifetime which has included several recessions – as if this is just another recession.  They’ve claimed that, in fact, in some circles that the recession is “over.”  Of course, this is because both the Obama administration and the Democratic party AREN’T THE CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN.  Yes, they’re a darn sight better than the Republicans – as stated above – but that’s not helping my friends or the other MILLIONS OF WORKERS WITHOUT JOBS!  And, what kind of jobs will they find once things REALLY turn around.  I can tell you that both of my friends are adjusting their expectations DOWNWARD in order to have any hope of finding work.

Here’s the thing that I’ve been trying to get across to anyone who would listen for the past year (people at my school go the other way when they see me coming :o) – the American public is desperately wanting statemenlike LEADERSHIP.  My big disappointment with President Obama is that he is the politician’s politician.  I guess I was kidding myself when I supported him.  There were warning signs – for example, the vote to support the FISA legislation which essentially enabled the illegal Bush wiretapping – but, I like many others fell for the great oratory skills and the promise for “change we can believe in.”  I honestly took that to mean a TOTALLY different direction for our government.  A “new” New Deal.  And, with the exception of the present Republican leadership, I believe Obama could have (probably still could – although it would be a lot more difficult today) sold the idea of a real government “push” to rebuild this nation’s infrastructure and “jump start” the job market. 

Yes, Obama’s stimulus package has helped – but there’s still something in excess of 17% of the workforce without jobs!  Government statistics continue to be used to mask the problems so that people think things are better than they really are – but, that is a losing proposition in itself.  Eventually, the reality of the situation will become apparent to all of us.  As the Geithner’s, and the Summer’s, and President Obama himself assure us that a jobs turn around will happen in the “next two years” I cringe at the thought of what that will do to my friends and people in their situation.  I just can’t believe that American’s have become so selfish that if the President used his “bully pulpit” to appeal to those of us with jobs – that there wouldn’t be widespread support of a program to put people to work.

Yes, people like the Republicans, the likes of the Limbaugh’s and Beck’s and O’Reilly’s will oppose ANYTHING!  But, the time is right to expose them for what they are.  This is a war for the future of this nation!  Are we going to just go on allowing the corporations who aren’t even, many of them, based in America to control our politicians – and their agenda?  Somehow, I believe with courageous leadership – leadership willing to take on the corporate “heads,” you would see a national unity form which hasn’t existed in this nation since before Viet Nam.  WE ALL BENEFIT WHEN THERE IS FULL EMPLOYMENT!

Here’s the problem with continuing with the present course.  THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE GETTING REALLY UPSET.  While Randi Rhodes, Rahm Emanuel, and other supporters of President Obama are calling people like me “stupid” because we don’t blindly support the President, public opinion is swaying away from Obama.  And, worse than that, I heard a recent poll where 44% of the people would prefer President Bush.  THIS SHOULD BE ALARMING TO ALL DEMOCRATS.  This supports much of what I’ve been predicting for the past year.  This is why I’m concerned that Obama didn’t allow investigations of the Bush torture policies, the wiretapping, etc.  For all the Democrats who believe the Republicans don’t have anyone to even challenge the President, I believe they are the ones who are STUPID!  We could conceivably be reliving the horror of the Bush Presidency sooner rather than later – and “looking the other way” could be an even BIGGER PROBLEM! (as I’ve said many times on this site – I hope I’m wrong)

I know they’re thinking, “who could possibly challenge the President?”  Sarah Palin? Don’t be absurd – there’s no way that nightmare could happen.  Well, I’m totally with them on that one – but, remember that Ronald Reagan was considered a “fringe” candidate when he first appeared on the “stage” so don’t get too “cocky” Democrats regarding Palin (although, I just can’t force myself to imagine that one).  How about Mitt Romney?  Well, he’s a better bet than Palin, but also – I’m sure the Democrats believe there’s no circumstance where he would defeat Obama.  And, Tim Pawlenty – another NO!  There’s not a lot out there on the Republican side of things – which may be why Obama is taking so much for granted.  I believe that just confirms my claim that he’s all about being a politician instead of a statesman – and, I think the Obama “camp” might not be thinking things through clearly enough.

The poll that showed people wishing Bush (arguably the worst President in our nation’s history) was back – confirms, at least in my mind, a nightmare that – as far as I know (and, I don’t read all the blogs out there), I’m the only one pointing this out.  There are a lot of Republicans who believe they chose the “wrong Bush” when GW was nominated in 2000.  And, I’m sure when he left office in virtual disgrace after bungling Afganistan and then lying us into Iraq – which was also BUNGLED – on top of RUINING OUR ECONOMY, OUR GOVERNMENT BEAURACRACY, AND OUR STANDING IN THE WORLD, most people – especially Democrats figured it was safe to say that we’ve seen the last of the Bush clan!  Well, all I have to say to President Obama is that if he continues to ignore the plight of my friends (probably too harsh –  but, from their perspective, that’s what it looks like), if he continues to “play” to the “center,” if he continues with the same old approaches to the same old problems, he will continue to turn off progressive voters and he’ll possibly be responsible for headlines that read something like: It’s President Obama himself who (could be) responsible for another Bush Presidency (Jeb)!  The thought makes me gag!