We have now officially entered pundit heaven. Whatever else results from Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, there is no doubt that we are now entering into a prolonged state of pundit nirvana. Ommmmm......
No such blissful state exists in the minds of American voters, however.
I myself have many more questions than answers.
For instance, I couldn't help noticing that a consistent theme among the voters who rejected Martha Coakley and elected Scott Brown was frustration with the "giveaways" taking place in Washington. A lot of voters are angry because they feel Wall Street executives have gotten better treatment than average working people during our economic crisis.
It certainly looks that way. Wall Street is cashing in like crazy. Unemployment remains terrifyingly high.
So, I guess, since we have a Democratic president and Congress, the answer to the problem is to elect another Republican.
Really?
Landmark Financial Reform Bill Passes Without a Single Republican Vote
A little over a year after Congress bailed out the financial system, the House on Friday passed a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s financial architecture and the rules that govern it, seeking to prevent a repeat of last year’s meltdown.
Friday’s 223-to-202 vote was a major victory for the Obama administration, which has made Wall Street reform a policy and political imperative (my italics), second only to health care on its agenda. But like so much of the White House’s other legislative agenda, this too, was a partisan win, as not a single Republican voted for the bill.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) aggressively made the case for Republicans to oppose the bill, and in the end all of them did.
Are you sure??
"President Obama supports changes that push us in the wrong direction," said Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.
Mr. Price called the administration's approach "an open-ended, big-government response to a problem best solved by appropriately targeted, common-sense measures consistent with American success."
I'm fairly certain that translates as "more tax cuts for the wealthy." Haven't we already tried that and failed?
And, from the very same article:
A newly released Associated Press poll has found that seven out of 10 Americans still think the federal government has not instituted the safeguards needed to prevent another financial meltdown. An even higher number - 80 percent - rate the condition of the economy as poor.
Can anyone explain why a voter would choose to elect a Republican who opposes financial reform because the voter believes the federal government has not done enough to pass financial reform?
Can anyone explain the logic of voting for a Republican out of frustration with the economic conditions created by a Republican administration?
Can anyone explain why voters would choose to reward the party that is deliberately gumming up the works in Washington for purely partisan gain by electing a candidate whose stated goal is to deliberately gum up the works even more?
Does no one even remember when the era of "giveaways" to Wall Street reached its obscene pinnacle?
Can anyone tell me when was the last time "big government" got the country into anything remotely approximating the mess bequeathed to the nation by the Republican Bush Administration?
Can anyone explain to me why Republican campaign tactics work so well, while Democrats are so ineffective and self-defeating?
Can anyone explain this?
GOP Chairman Michael Steele said Brown's "message of lower taxes, smaller government and fiscal responsibility clearly resonated with independent-minded voters in Massachusetts who were looking for a solution to decades of failed Democrat leadership."
"Decades of failed Democrat leadership?" Really??
As George Orwell said, "He who controls the present, controls the past."
I guess one could make a good argument that President Obama and the Democratic Party have failed to control the present, so now they are in danger of losing the past, as well.
Is it possible that Democrats across the spectrum will rally round and work together to ensure that they and President Obama have some legislative accomplishments to point to before November?
The rest of Orwell's quote is, "He who controls the past, controls the future."
The future looks pretty dubious now, too.
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