I don't know whether Obama has the right prescription or not for what ails us; and I don't know if the Obama government is doing a good job so far in these brief months, or if they'll cure the massive problems they were left to tackle.
I did watch Obama on 60 Minutes this evening and was really comforted, and here's why. Because he didn't evade a single question he was asked. Because he gave thoughtful and good-humored answers to tough questions. Because he didn't sound like a ideologue, rather a man looking for the right way forward. Because he treated us like adults.
We haven't seen this in quite a long time.
My favorite line, which may be somewhat reworded: "We will not govern out of anger."
So many young Americans must be amazed to see the figure in the White House appear to be more adult than they are. Having endured most of a decade with a bumbling "Mr. Malaprop" educating them by example on the lowest forms of public governance, they must be adapting to a new image of a graceful, thoughtful, well-spoken, sincere, leader.
If Mr. Obama totally fails in the job of ending the economic crisis or extracting us from Iraq, he will at least have done us the honor of respecting our democracy.
8 comments:
Thus far, I'm not too impressed with is Treasury secretary.
It has been pointed out that one reason the credit markets have frozen up is that Geithner has promised to buy up the big Shitpile at above-market values. Therefore, nobody wants to sell their part of the mortgage shitpile for market value.
Among other problems... There are too many Wall Street types getting wealthy off the meltdown, and not enough contrition from the fraudsters.
He makes me feel good about being an American----
I didn’t always feel that way the last 8 years.
I agree, It is at least comforting to know that an intelligent leader is making decisions based on what is good for the future of most Americans, and not based on some worn out ideology (lower taxes cut spending and invade anyone who looks cross-eyed at us).
I agree with Scot - buying up worthless assets at above market value isn't working - not to mention his point about some unethical cretins still getting rich. It's time to pick the banks in the worst shape and just nationalise them and do it quickly. No point waiting around - the government should be able to buy them up cheap - the shareholders are simply going to have to wear the loss.
Here's a link to a blog post in support of nationalisation:
http://johnquiggin.com/index.php/archives/2009/03/09/abort-retry-fail/#more-4780
BILL from WNNCO
... I read mostly USA Today, sometimes parts of the WSJ, and sometimes the Saginaw News. In addition to that printed matter, I also listen to Public Radio, and Dennis Miller (on a limited basis). Out of all of this, I now fully understand that "Truth" depends on which station or what paper one reads. It is astonishing how a story can have a different "truth" or value depending on whether one resonates with the source of that story.
It appears that all of the political BS comes down to simple wave theory and, obviously, personal religion.
Scot,
A friend of mine, on election day, when asked "who's winning?" would respond "the banks".
My dad used to say insurance companies owned the world. If they didn't, let's say they lost it, the people of America would buy it for them again.
Post a Comment