"Martha knows the struggles Massachusetts working families face because she's lived those struggles. Their stories are her story. You heard her -- she was raised in North Adams, one of five kids. Her dad owned a small business. Her mother was a homemaker. She worked her way up. Nothing was handed to her."
This "hand-out" idea was a major theme for Obama that day. Let me ask... if he's so against hand-outs and so proud of Coakley for rising up on her own, why is he so intent on social justice, redistribution of wealth and the idea that the successful people need to provide for the unsuccessful people? He's talking out of both sides of his mouth.
"It's whether we're going to have a future where everybody gets a shot in this society, or just the privileged few."
This is the comment that ticked me off. He blathered on as if the only people who can get ahead are people who were born with a silver spoon in their mouths. He should know as well as anyone - this foreigner with black skin and a drug habit in his youth who is now President of the United States of America - that with enough hard work and self-determination, anyone can pull themselves out of the quagmire and succeed. He did it. He's not privileged. He wasn't born into money. He had a broken home. He's President now.
I've never asked for anything from anyone. I own my own company, but it was a struggle to do so, and it continues to be a struggle every day, particularly now. I'm not privileged, and nobody gave me my shot. I wanted a shot AND I TOOK IT.
I was VERY offended by that comment of his. He knows better. He's playing the populist, but he's doing it wrong and he's pissing off his constituents.
Now - let's move on:
"Because it's easy to say you're independent and you're going to bring people together and all that stuff -- until you actually have to do it."
Oh. Really? No kidding? For two years or more he used the phrase "bring people together", but all he's accomplished is to divide us even further and to stick a middle finger up at anyone who disagrees by just shutting them out. He shut the doors of transparency and has been working behind closed doors on his pending health care and energy bills. It was easy for him to use that phrase himself, but when he couldn't do it he just plain gave up... and considering he has an overwhelming majority in both houses, there's no reason for that kind of snubbery.
Here's more:
"I kept a campaign promise to cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans. Cut taxes. And these members of Congress right here voted to cut taxes here in the commonwealth not just for individuals, but also for small businesses. We cut taxes for middle-class families. That was part of the Recovery Act."
Sure. Legislate a tax cut. Fine. But he's going to get your money, no matter what bracket you're in. Whether he's raising taxes on energy, or taking more money out of your paycheck to pay for government-run health care, or causing banks to raise their fees (and pass them on to you) because of the taxes Obama wants to impose on them. His tax cuts are "virtual". They're up in a cloud somewhere, because I'm a middle class businessman and I was really afraid of what his policies were going to do to me and my business.
"It was your tax dollars that saved Wall Street banks from their own recklessness, keeping them from collapsing and dragging our entire economy down with them. // Now, we've recovered most of your money already, but I don't think "most of your money" is good enough. We want all our money back. We're going to collect every dime. That's why I proposed a new fee on the largest financial firms -- to pay the American people back for saving their skin."
If the money is paid back with interest, why do we need to punish the banks? Their debt to the American people is paid, so let's let them do their private business out of government hands. Can we regulate the financial sector better? Sure. Some additional regulations will go far towards helping us avoid another meltdown. But those recommendations should be made not to limit wage compensation, but to stifle predatory lending, restrict unsecured mortgages and to build non-governmental watchdogs who can tell the Barney Franks and the Chris Dodds that they cannot pressure private entities to mire themselves down in risky debt the likes of which caused this terrible recession. The credit market is already overly tight. Additional fees and taxes will slow down the credit market even more.
Obama and Coakley were counting on the "progressive", liberal track record of the Massachusetts voters:
"You will carry on the best, progressive, forward-looking values of this proud commonwealth..."
No, they didn't.
But as happy as Republicans are about this victory and this message to Washington DC, they cannot get too full of themselves. The GOP still has a long way to go to fix their own house. Just like the Democrats had difficulty getting themselves together for years, the Republicans have a similar dilemma. The centrist/McCain republicans have almost become a separate party from the Tea-Party Conservatives. The Pawlentys are disagreeing with the Palins in the direction of the GOP. While I mention it - Sarah Palin should NOT run for President in 2012. She should NOT have quit the governorship because that was her best chance to redeem herself politically in the eyes of the nation. Now she's got no political clout, she has too many fires to put out and she doesn't have anyone except the Tea-Party conservatives on her side... and many of them don't want her to run either.
Tonight's Massachusetts vote changes the game a bit in Washington, but it's only one more vote. Yes, it kills the 60-seat filibuster-proof Democrat stranglehold, but the majority stands. The GOP has about 6 months to get their house in order, or they're going to unravel and the Democrats will maintain a heavy majority. The GOP-vs-Conservative fight cost Republicans the Senate seat in New York. They need to settle down, buckle up and come to a consensus.
But in the meantime, the Dems lost a seat and tomorrow may be the dawn of a brand new day. For the first time in a year - almost to the day - I feel some hope towards the future.
... and that's the way I see it.
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