I was watching 60 minutes last night and I heard the President of Brazil say something that gave me pause. After thinking about this very simple thing it occured to me he was exactly right.
Brazil's President has a 4th grade education. He was a labor union leader and many thought his election would be another chaviz a socialist. But it turns out he has turned the country around by having higher taxes and getting the debt under control. It also helped that they discovered 1 trillion dollars worth of oil off their coast and the State owned oil company will benefit the country with the profits.
Now let me get to what he said that was so profound. He was asked what was the secret to his success. And he said,
Listen to the people and the answers are there before you.
Now I know in our 24/7 cable news world that things are not as simple as this president makes them out to be, but let's take for a second the things that poll at 80% or better in this country.
* A Public option in the health care debate.
* Taxing the wealthiest in our country.
* Green energy in any form polls high.
* Capping our Credit card interest rates at 12%.
* Make the banks write down the principal on Mortagages for everyone.
* Preserving Social Security.
* Repel DODT
I could go on and on but if we just did what the people wanted us to do the party and president would be successful. As long as we have the filibuster in place none of these things will ever happen.