Yeah, I'm also trying to figure this out.
The strangest question from President Obama's press conference last night came by way of NBC News' Chuck Todd. Twelve hours later, I'm still not sure what he was thinking.
"Some have compared this financial crisis to a war, and in times of war, past presidents have called for some form of sacrifice. [...]
"Why, given this new era of responsibility that you're asking for, why haven't you asked for something specific that the public should be sacrificing to participate in this economic recovery?"
When the president responded by pointing all of the many ways in which Americans are already sacrificing in the midst of an economic crisis, Todd wasn't satisfied. In a follow up, the NBC White House correspondent asked why Obama has called on "specific" sacrifices from Americans. And again, the president explained, "[T]he American people are making a host of sacrifices in their individual lives."
I like Chuck Todd quite a bit, but he's fallen into some weird bizarre trap where the Iraq War and the economic collapse are somehow one and the same. And apparently stung by criticism that Bush never asked for sacrifice when he launched his war, they're going to make amends by demanding Obama ask for those sacrifices.
But obviously the two events aren't comparable. One was an unnecessary elective war that didn't affect Americans directly because 1) Iraq posed no threat to the US, and 2) the people doing the killing and dying were far away. It was easy for Americans to go on with their regular lives oblivious to the far-away carnage, even though the military was stretched thin and in desperate need of new recruits and our nation's budget was being busted by the trillion-dollar optional war. People weren't asked to either fight in this war, or pay for it. In effect, they were never asked to contribute beyond stupid yellow ribbons.
The economic collapse is happening at home, and directly affecting their lives. People are losing their jobs, their homes, their retirement savings, their investments, their businesses, and even those still gainfully employed have lost their feelings of economic security. People are directly engaged in this crisis because it is happening to them directly, not to other people far away.
So what "sacrifice" does Chuck Todd and his media colleagues want Obama to ask for?
Of course, the media elite live in their DC bubble, so perhaps to them, this economic collapse is exactly like Iraq -- something that is happening to other people, someplace far away. Michigan might as well be Iraq, it's so far removed from their daily experiences. So if that's the case, then maybe their bizarre disconnect with what Americans are suffering through right now starts making more sense.