Monday, July 26, 2010

The Monumental Hypocrisy of the Republican Party

Mark Thoma cited two articles worth reading on The Monumental Hypocrisy of the Republican Party.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The fact that Republicans are monumentally hypocritical is irrelevant. A fact none-the-less, but irrelevant.

Upon reading the Wolf piece it should be abundantly clear why way back in early 2009 I was "ranting" about Obama's failure to stand up to the Wall Street banks and the wealth lobby, and side with average middle class Americans so that the independent part of the electorate would clearly understand who was on their side, and who fucked them over and how.

Well he had his chance and he blew it and we will all (at least the bottom 99% of the country) suffer the consequences from economic stagnation to environmental disasters.

The repubs don't care if they are hypocrites or liars or anything else. They only care about holding onto power so that they can do the bidding of their corporate overlords.

Once in a generation progressive leaders are able, through a combination of will and crisis, to steer a new course to a better future for all our citizens.

Teddy Roosevelt and Trust Busting at turn of the century, FDR in 1930 - Social Security and the New Deal, LBJ and Medicare in the 1960s, and now history will have to judge whether Obama rose to moment that history presented or not.

It's clear to me he did not. Obama wanted to mediate instead of lead in our time of crisis, and "our generation" has now missed it's chance to move the country forward. Unfortunately, it will take another monumental clusterfuck by the right before such and opportunity presents itself again.

It was clear to me that all the other things that need to be addressed were all going to spring from Obama's ability to take on Wall Street and convince the average American he is on their side. If he had done this, he would have EARNED the trust and respect of the vast majority of Americans, the way FDR did.

Sadly, he completely disappeared in this regard, and because of that, Health Care Reform is just more money for Insurance Companies, Financial Reform is likely an even bigger joke (unless Obama appoints William Black head of the SEC), there is no energy policy, and he can't do what he really wants to do in Afghanistan, and the stimulus was too small.

Yes, the Republican party exhibits Monumental Hypocrisy. But as Dick Cheney said......so what?

This battle is lost. Hopefully, Social Security and Medicare will survive the coming onslaught.

TT