THE ECONOMY HAS TANKED, AND OBAMA’S LEADING IN THE POLLS. WOO HOO!
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE PRESIDENCY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HERBERT HOOVER, THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BECAME THE POLITICAL HOME OF BIG BUSINESS
On October 30, 1929, the day after the great stock market crash, President Herbert Hoover, a conservative Republican declared that “The fundamental business of the country … is on a sound and prosperous basis,” Boy was he ever wrong.
While Hoover may not have been quite the economic dolt history has tagged him with being, his fundamental misunderstanding of the crisis in which America found itself that morning showed the disconnect between the Republicans of that era and the reality of the world at large.
Somewhere between the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln and that of Herbert Hoover, the Republican Party became the political home of big business. Republicans of Hoover’s era were in favor of low taxes and high tariffs. Part of that conforms with today’s members of the GOP, the other part doesn’t. Republicans in this century still love low taxes for themselves, not for Jane and Joe Lunchbucket, mind you, just for themselves. They no longer, however, believe in protectionism.
Rather, they have concluded that shipping the manufacturing and service segments of our economy overseas, the big corporations will lower their costs and increase their profits. What they neglected to realize is that in order for those mega companies to make their filthy lucre, they need customers, and when those prospective customers are out of work, they ain’t buying diddly squat.
And when the aforementioned Joe and Jane Lunchbucket can’t afford to purchase anything more that the bare necessities of life, the economy comes crashing down around us.
So in the midst of this crashing down that is the result of the failed policies of one of the worst Republican Presidents in our history, what does the Grand Old Party do? They do just what you would expect, them to do. They nominate John McCain to become the successor to George W. Bush.
And, of course, just as that crash is occurring, at a time when the Dow Jones Average is dropping at a rate of nearly 500 points a day, what does Senator McCain have to say about the crisis? ” ‘The fundamentals of our economy are strong,” were the words that came flowing forth from the GOP standard bearer’s ruby red lips.
After the Republican National Convention, and John McCain’s announcement that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would be his choice for the Vice Presidency, the Republicans got a bounce in the polls. Many pollsters, in fact, showed McCain in the lead. His lead was remarkable when taken in the context of the least popular exiting President in memory and the failing economy. Yet, there he was with his Tina Fey lookalike VP candidate, leading Senator Obama in the polls.
“Impossible,” my friends said. They all reached out for the data that showed McCain to be less bright (if that’s possible) than the current occupant of the White House. They all said that Palin had no experience and was so far to the right that the Republicans couldn’t possibly be considered as serious contenders this year. Yet, there they were, very much in the lead.
I told my friends not to worry. I told them that the situation would soon resolve itself. They didn’t believe me. I saw something that they didn’t see. I saw an upcoming implosion of the team of Tweedle McCain and Tweedle Palin. And sure enough, it came.
One day it was Sarah Palin telling ABC’s Charlie Gibson that she had no idea what the Bush Doctrine was, and the next it was John McCain at a GM plant telling the workers that the economy was fundamentally sound. The fluff was gone, and the lipstick was off the pig. America began to realize that McCain had inadequate abilities to deal with this impending crisis and Palin only knew how to use her tanning bed while wreaking vengeance on her former brother in law.
One of the first jobs I had when I got out of college was as an assistant buyer for a New York department store. The manager at that store once explained to me that when crisis hits, there is only one thing to do. He said, “In emergency times, we do emergency things.” To John McCain, that seems to mean that the way to deal with these emergency times is to give further tax cuts to the pickle pusses who created the crisis in the first place. To John McCain, that means we reward the failure of corporate heads at the expense of the working population of our country. John McCain, you see, hasn’t figured out that the trickle down economy of Ronald Reagan never did trickle down. John McCain just thinks everything is fundamentally sound.
During a previous economic crunch, when George H. W. Bush was running for reelection, the upstart Democratic candidate, Governor William Jefferson Clinton of Arkansas put the whole thing into perspective when he said, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
John McCain hasn’t gotten that point. John McCain still hasn’t figured out that it’s still the economy, stupid. The problem for Senator McCain is that the rest of the country has.
McCain seems to still believe that he can lie about Senator Obama’s position on sex education and win over the population to his side. John McCain thinks that he can distort remarks by the Democratic candidate and be believed by the voters. John McCain is wrong. People are beginning to get it, and, as they get it, John McCain’s numbers are likely to go into free fall.
That’s very important because John McCain is threatening to take us back to the era of Ronald Reagan, the President who began the destruction of everything President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did to bring this country back from the throes of Herbert Hoover’s depression.
But there is one more thing that is similar between the administration of Ronald Reagan and a possible McCain Presidency.
As we all know, Ronald Reagan died as a result of advanced Alzheimer’s-Disease. As one who has witnessed the devastating effects of this illness on several occasions, I can tell you that its progression does not occur over night. It happens, generally, over a period of years.
By Reagan’s second year in office, his illness began to take over. He was, in all likelihood, not much more than a figure head for the final 4 to 6 years of his time in office. Fortunately, for better or for worse, his Vice President, George H. W. Bush, was a skilled enough politician to keep the country on an even keel with a nominal President who probably could no longer reason for himself.
In looking at John McCain, I see many similarities to Ronald Reagan at approximately the same age. If I am right, it is conceivable that early in his Presidency, John McCain will lose the ability to govern effectively. The only problem is that he will not have a Vice President of the ilk of the senior Bush. McCain will have Sarah Palin in the second chair. He will have a Vice President who, as of last week, had never met a world leader, had only travelled outside of North America once in her life and who thought that she knew all about Russia because it can be seen from parts of her state of Alaska.
Imagine, if you will, an incapacitated John McCain leaving Sarah Palin, who had to attend 6 different colleges to get a BA, in charge. Imagine where diplomacy will be headed if a woman who likes to use automatic weapons to shoot animals from airplanes has her finger on the nuclear (not knew cue ler) button. It’s really something I’m sure you would rather not imagine.
But if John McCain becomes President, it is truly a real possibility.
So, let’s see what we have here.
1. A candidate for President that finished 5th from the bottom of his class at Annapolis
2. A candidate for Vice President who attended 6, count ‘em 6, colleges to get her BA
3. The top two positions on the Republican ticket occupied by people who have no understanding of the basic rules of economy at a time of economic meltdown
4. A Vice Presidential candidate who has never met a world leader
5. A Presidential candidate who is exhibiting signs of early stage Alzheimer’s
All told, not a very encouraging situation for The Republicans.
No wonder Obama is rising in the polls.
Now, if we can only stop the expected attempts of voter nullification and out and out cheating that we know the Republican Party does better than any other group currently existing in the world with the possible exception of the Middle East, Barack Obama will be our next President.
Or not.
HENRY A. HONIG
THE PUNDIT
