No adverse consequences if that scenario unfolds.
But if worse continues to lead to worse as numerous economists predict, and you deny yourself political cover by not allowing for that eventuality?
Your popularity will prove thin and short-lived. You will lose your credibility. Quickly. And once relinquished, it can't be restored.
And that's the best case scenario, Mr. President.
The worst?
If , in the absence of a credible President, tens of millions--millions who are ill-prepared for adversity--find themselves living in a state of deprivation and want? And if fear of the unknown starts feeding upon itself?
The people may, as they have in the past, turn to a leader who uses the energy of ignorance and fear to summon our darkest impulses. We don't have to travel back to the Trail of Tears to recognize our capacity for looking the other way while our government pursues a policy of genocide.
We don't have to travel back to the torture and murder of Emmett Till to recognize our capacity for denying the humanity of a child.
Joe McCarthy's sheet of paper?
Ancient history.
A mere nine months ago John McCain chose a running mate who proved masterful at inciting fear and hatred of "the other." And if worse continues to lead to worse in the absence of a credible president, the hatred we saw on the periphery of her crowds could move to the center and burst into flames that consume our better angels as they fan out.
On June 2nd the headline for the New York Times lead story ran beneath this headline: "Obama Is Upbeat For G.M. Future On A Day Of Pain."
Upbeat on a day when the lives of 21,000 autoworkers and their families were shattered.
Upbeat on a day in which the closing of seven plants will translate into tens of thousands of shattered lives in other sectors of the auto industry.
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