In the Greek myth Icarus had the courage to soar high above the earth before the sun melted the wax holding his wings together. The Democrats, having been handed a carte blanche ticket to a progressive agenda, unlike Icarus, have chosen to fly close to the ground. Progressives have no representation, and there seems little hope they ever will.
If John Kerry had been elected in 2004, he would have continued the Bush Administration’s policies just as Obama is doing now. But Kerry may have had a chance at a second term. The banks and Wall Street, in 2004, hadn’t yet folded. But would Kerry have been bright, or brave enough, to see the coming catastrophe and intercede in time to at least cushion the crash? Would Kerry have acted boldly to reverse the Bush Administration’s policy of open war? Would Kerry have had the courage to raise taxes, and begin the arduous process involved in addressing the ocean of red ink that Bush left behind? Would Kerry have had the spine to stand up to the republicans? A definitive no to all of the above. Kerry would have tempered any effort aimed at improving the lot of ordinary Americans with the promises he made to his corporate bosses.
Kerry, unable to assert himself, would have been a one term president, just as Obama will be. Obama’s base was essentially suckered into voting for him. All his talk of openness and accountability were only election gambits. Obama, occupying what is arguably the most powerful position on the planet, while enjoying democratic majorities in both Houses of Congress, doesn’t have the spine to make a discernable difference in the lives of Americans. This is exponentially derelict after eight years of a dull witted, and morally bereft, fraud. But as the luck of drunks and fools will have it, Bush will escape accountability. Obama, unfortunately for him, will be deserving of his abbreviated presidency, and his frightened legacy will be but another contradiction of the Founder’s intent. Progressive ideology will have taken another step back, perhaps its last.
Progressives may as well get used to the idea that, in four years, the presidency will go back to the republicans. The Democratic Congressional Majorities, if not replaced, will be reduced. It doesn‘t matter because the majorities are paralyzed anyway. House Speaker Pelosi, checkmated by her own involvement as a cheerleader for torture, is worse than useless. Voters are impressed with strong, assertive leadership, whether it is right or wrong. The republicans, never ones to let an opportunity, real or construed go by, have wasted no time in resting the blame for the economic collapse squarely on Obama’s unresisting shoulders. The question begs. Why would a man devote his entire adult life to politics, then rise to the highest level of his profession, only to cower before the advance of a weakened and outnumbered enemy? Cowardice leaps to mind, but Obama’s agenda is probably more servile than simple cowardice allows.
Broadcast media will enthusiastically avoid answering such questions, while inversely explaining Obama’s role in bringing about the financial collapse of 2009, 20010 - whenever. It doesn’t matter as long as Obama is blamed for the outrageous criminal pursuits of Bush & Co, and he will be, as present indicators reveal. The U.S. is not at a crossroad. It is at a dead end. How many times can a chicken change its mind before it’s road kill? The answer to that question has never been considered by the democrats. The republicans, however, have achieved their goals with remarkable success. They have broken the government, and transferred its power and money, to the handful of billionaires who, it can now be said, own the nation, and those who pretend to leadership.
Americans are ultimately responsible for the demise of their representative government. Politicians kiss babies and make promises, but as long experience reveals, they can’t be trusted, and they bear close watching. The lessons learned from the Great Depression were quickly forgotten by a uninterested public. Even when the S&L’s collapsed after Reagan began his deregulation craze, the public failed to catch on. Deregulation is anathema to the Wall Street Bankers. Obama understands this, and is willing to reward them for their brazen theft of the taxpayer’s money.
As the economy continues to implode, ordinary Americans, those fools who work and pay taxes, will continue involuntarily rewarding the greed of those who select the elected parasites whose votes are for sale. Obama has been permitted his brief moment at the pinnacle of power which, unbelievably, he chose to squander. He has, after an amazingly short time, digressed to comic relief. After the Bush Administration’s outrageous excesses and criminal behaviors, Obama’s unconditional surrender to the powers that be is one of the more disgraceful moments in American History. The king makers selected well when they chose Obama.
It is an indisputable fact that many millions of Americans enthusiastically supported the cowpoke from deranged. Those millions undermined their nation by supporting an idiot, who Cheney worked like a marionette on a string. Bush & Co began transferring the nation’s wealth to those who Junior referred to as “the haves and have mores.” During his 2000 campaign he addressed a wealthy audience. “Some people call you the elite. I call you my base” quipped Junior with his trademark smirk. Every American should have taken note of that comment, and immediately understood that Bush & Co hadn’t the slightest intention of investing in the nation and its people. To the contrary, voters had been told in no uncertain terms exactly what to expect with a Bush Presidency. The same folks who supported Bush apparently don’t wonder why there is nothing to show for the trillions Bush gave away to the rich folk during his fraudulent presidency. The ignorance is breathtaking.
Americans richly deserve everything they’re going to get. Those in the progressive community, who held such high hopes for an Obama Presidency, should not have been surprised by Obama’s sudden reversals. After the Supreme Court decided that any election in which Gore was the winner was unconstitutional the “words of the prophets were written on the subway walls” were dismayingly precient. The dismay of the progressive community will echo long after the democratic party has passed on. In 1713 Joseph Addison, and English essayist wrote “he who hesitates is lost.” The Democratic Party’s Representatives do not represent progressives, and haven’t for some time. The republicans however, do represent their base, no matter how ignorant or loony they are. The republicans will always win because no matter how contorted or unjust their message, they at least, know where they want to lead.
