The carefully scripted psychodrama by the cohort of the Koch Machine (including Grover Norquist) in Congress on the so-called debt ceiling vote has now taken place. One comment I heard was that it is now water under the bridge, but unfortunately the bridge is in such bad shape that it is in danger of collapsing.
Most people I have talked to about this have agreed that it was a terrible decision, but with such intransigent Tea Partiers throwing a tantrum and refusing any rational discussions, there was little else that could have been done, other than sign the damn thing.
What a decision President Obama had to make. Give in to the bullies, or avert, at least for the time being, an economic world-wide famine. In my opinion, those TV talking heads or columnists who are claiming he ‘blinked’ have missed the point entirely. I wasn’t there in Washington and could only watch them on TV, but it seemed to me that the majority of these pundits have never been through an economic depression, and haven’t a clue when they so carelessly dismiss the effect on lower and middle-income people. I have a friend who was a teen-ager during the Great Depression. Her comment last week was that she remembers vividly having nothing to eat every night at dinner but green beans from their small garden flavored with bacon bits and the grease. This went on for weeks, and they were really glad to have that much. I have fewer vivid memories, but I do know that I simply cannot buy anything that isn’t on sale, or that isn’t greatly needed (as opposed to wanted) because of memories I have of that time.
No, there wasn’t, in my opinion, much the President could do but sign the deal. And that is the opinion of a great many people I have talked with. The pundits may think he ‘blinked’, but some of the rest of us think he made a wise decision.
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