Adult, grownup, as opposed to oppressive parent or cowed child is what we need as an antidote for the last 8 years. So many actions by the Bushco regime were abusive. An abusive parent is not acting in an adult manner because they are not in control like they think they are. Instead they are acting out abusive parent tapes. I don't think it is any wonder that all of these folks, Bush, Cheney, Rummy, are together. I think they recognized in each other the need to be abusive, the need to act as if they were in control and the need to disdain others as not important. For them it was a dream come true, and for us, the people of the nation, a nightmare seemingly without end.
(over the flip)
Congress could have done something to prevent most of the abusive behavior, but the Republican congress went along with all of it and forced the dems into doing likewise because of the way they operated.
I couldn't understand how nothing that happened, nothing that resulted from the things they did made a dent in that collective front of the rethugs and their collaborators in the press. Still yet we see a willingness on the part of the folks who support the rethugs still, looking to vilify the opposition regardless of truth. I think this is because the rethug contingent and some of their followers are not being rational adults. They are living in either parent mode or child mode and listening to worn out tapes in their minds.
Truth was a casualty of Bushco. Everything was spun to the point of angels dancing on the head of a pin. People got their talking points and echoed them over and over throughout the MSM. Rarely could a dissent, a contrary viewpoint make it over the din. That noise machine is still working, but like a wurlizer with a problem it is wheezing and the prints of the people plugging the nickels in are becoming more and more visible. Part of the reason for those prints is that the caretakers are falling away and only a few of them are left. Rove has to stay away (or pretend he is staying away) in order to build his "new life". Bill Kristol is still plugging away for those nickels but he has less and less relevance in a Cheney less world. We need some adults reporting the news. We need some adult talk shows. We need people to understand the difference between facts and opinions and horse hockey. We need adults at the 4th estate wheel.
Honor was a casualty of Bushco. It will be interesting to see how many fracases Obama has to deal with when leftover members of Bushco work to sabotage his agenda. Rummy fired all the generals that disagreed with him and some of the ones that are left are kool aid drinkers. I am sure that some lopping of heads will be needed because I don't think Obama can do other if he wants some respect from the rest. Torture and Gitmo and Abu Gharib are all the antithesis of honor. The stains on our history are going to have to be dealt with in some fashion or they will taint all of our dealings with others for decades. We need some adults in charge at the Pentagon.
Fiduciary responsibility was another casualty of Bushco and of conservatism in general. I was appalled by the snickering of Enron employees bragging about bringing the California energy grid to its knees. But more importantly, nothing was done to assure us that Bushco understood fiduciary responsibility and so now our economy is like a huge train wreck. Lessons have not been learned. We look at what Paulson is doing. He might as well be a child handing out free lollipops to his buddies. This particular problem requires not just stiff regulation, but an entire decade of education on how if you screw the system it will indeed screw you. Somehow some consequences have to be applied in order for that meaning to come through to the point that people are willing, able, smart and capable of using self restraint and control when it comes to other people's money. In other words, we need some adults in charge on wall street.
Trust was a huge casualty of Bushco. One wonders if it may not be moribund. Bush started out with his buddy Ken Lay helping him grease the skids for his entrance to the whitehouse. The Enron collapse, the energy debacle in California were huge, but Bush managed to use 9/11 to escape the consequences. We have people who listen to Rush believing the most outrageous lies and yet they still listen and parrot their little ditto heads off. They, apparently, trust whoever they choose to trust and then pay no attention to the consequences. We, here on dkos, are less likely to just blindly put our trust in anybody and we are endlessly able to natter about second guesses and miscues and missteps. And we demand some kind of backing up when assertions are made. But trust extends to all parts of our society. The dollar is only as valuable as we trust it is. And where we put our dollars has become increasingly, under Bushco, untrustworthy. Wall street, the housing market, and even our politicos have seen us doubt big time. We probably aren't shoving things under the mattress, but we aren't comfortable with any of the other choices either. And we have been urging our dem leaders to stop "trusting" the rethugs and stop kowtowing to them as well. Because our lack of trust in the rethugs bleed over to distrusting our leadership when they collaborate - especially on things like FISA and this idiotic bailout bill cum blank check. Now the interesting thing is - the rethugs didn't want to get tied to that bailout bill. I think they saw the taint of that as more devastating to them and their "principles" than the new great depression we are falling into. Bushco pushed it because they didn't want to be Hoover all over again. We need adults in business, in dc, and in our community to step forward and understand that trust is something that is earned. You don't get it because you got elected, or you are a CEO or you write, you get trust, you earn trust, because your actions show that you are trustworthy.
Hope is what Obama gave us during the election cycle. He has led us to believe that he is an adult. We sense that he is not abusive nor is he likely to become abusive when things get tough. He is a pragmatist. He is a strategist. He is, above all, a focused human being who may not always see a whole picture, but the goal. No matter who got elected we would have to deal with flaws because we are human and we are all flawed. And we will have to deal with Obama and his flaws and we will have to deal with our flaws. Hope will not heal the wounds from the last 8 years. Hope will not change the bleak outlook for the economy, but it will keep it from being totally bleak and it will keep some parts of it afloat so that we can hold on through the next year.
I think we will have to force some of the dems and most of the rethugs to learn how to be adult and what is acceptable to adults. It is going to be a huge process. But Obama got elected in this country that is mostly not adult. I am hoping he will be able to govern with people in dc who are mostly not adult.