6/1/2k+9
Of course, rant number one today is that it took me six months to post anything on this site...
Anyhow: I knew what I was going to write about for this Rant for five months, actually – the same thing I wrote about last time, but in an updated form. So say what you will, but we've gone from the newly elected (12/15/08) to the inaugurated to the first 90 days in office, and my prediction came true: We have dunderheads that somehow expect 8 years of mismanagement to be fixed literally overnight (and before he even got into office) by President Obama. The old saying is that things will get worse before they get any better, you have to break some eggs to make an omelette, and my theory [check old Rants, the links are below] that Bush figured he'd reach Rapture before he ever got called on the carpet for his actions still sounds true though the Rapture or his own being taken by God didn't happen (last week's tabloid "Suicide Watch on Bush" headlines aside)... the nation was left with businesses and financial institutions falling apart, and to fix this Obama has had to authorize a bunch of spending to save what still stands. I can see how some people might object to spending money while in a huge deficit but nearly every bit of it is to save America! Unlike Cheney with Halliburton, it's not about personal gain.
The Republican drum-bangers are dancing around in a circle chanting about how this new administration is a failure (funny how they forget how it got that way, prior to 1/20/09) but yet they admit when pressed they don't have a plan or a candidate either. Normally I try to avoid the X-is-right/Y-is-wrong nature of political parties, since there are good people and good ideas on both sides (and I haven't forgotten there are more than two sides, I am talking about the two with the best finances thus loudest voices). But at this moment I have to say that the Republican Party needs to shut the fuck up. Before the election, the discourse was about issues and candidates and how to address problems, and that's good. But right now? They don't have a pot to piss in – everything I hear put out there is essentially either saying "We don't like that Obama was voted in as President" (that's fine, non-Republicans said that about Bush for eight years, but it means nothing) or "We're going to make some wild and unsubstantiated allegations and speculations since we don't actually have anything factual to criticize yet." There's no material here. Could y'all try to be part of the solution rather than inventing new problems?
I've wanted to say this particular phrase for awhile, and had hoped it wouldn't come to present situations – banks collapsing, 10.8% unemployment rate including myself for the last 11 months, mortgage and loan companies putting people out of their homes, companies using their millions in bailout money on corporate parties, the big three American automobile makers hitting bankrupcy because they avoided making fuel-efficient cars people wanted to buy, and so forth – which would justify it, but it did. Here it is: In September 2001, some high members of the US Government made a few statements about foreign terrorists seeking to destablize this nation because ______ [fill in the blank: "they hate our freedoms", they want to take over this country, the US government buddies up with Israel, their toilet paper isn't as soft as ours, etcetera], so we must defend ourselves and be ever-paranoid. But see, that's not how things have played out. One could say that the September 11 attacks started a chain of economic issues in the country, but for the most part the blame is our own... our economy rebounded a year or two after September 11, but then went down the toilet because some executives put personal profit before fiduciary responsibility. Our military forces are at their highest strength yet are not here defending our borders, they're over in Iraq cleaning up Bush's vendetta against his dad's enemy, which is not related to terrorism as it applies here. Yes, the nation has been destablized, and yet oddly it was not by outside forces, it was entirely done from within by our own leaders and trusted institutions. Bin Laden couldn't have planned anything as huge as the Bush Administration's severe issues with itself and the money-holders it should have kept close tabs on. As R.A.T. says among itself all the time, FHTWO: Funny How That Works Out.
I'm not offering any sort of solution to the country's mess in this final paragraph. I don't have an overall one, though like most I have ideas about individual facets (like: maybe now Detroit can start making cars worth buying, now that the Big Three are on a short leash?). Going back to the first two paragraphs, my point now is the same as it was in December of last year... Don't dismiss Obama as a failure when he's attempting the Herculean task of getting this country back on track. I don't know how long is 'long enough' before it's fair to stop blaming the Bush Administration for how things are going, but we're not there yet. My message and hope today is: If anyone around you goes spouting shit about Obama not getting the things moving, tell them to shut up and push. --#2
