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| | | | Help Is On The Way
Ann Davidow
FINDING A VOICE by Ann Davidow
Surprise, Surprise, the last eight years haven't produced a healthy economy or provided a sound basis for programs that would bring order and stability to the nation. The president seems flabbergasted that things aren't going well. Publicly he is doing a creditable job effecting a smooth transition for the Obama team because he kind of sees that, gee whiz, the country is in a bit of a bind.
In his private moments, however, he is busily "burrowing" appointees into civil service jobs and issuing executive orders that will keep failed and destructive policies humming along after he leaves office. Into the bargain he has just negotiated an agreement with Iraq committing American troops to three more years of occupation. And, in general throughout his tenure, he has promoted the mixing of politics and religion - - an unhealthy relationship between what should be two disparate aspects of American life.
The business of any religion should be to serve and instruct followers about its beliefs and practices, not expect conformity from others. When preachers encourage parishioners to transform religious tenets into political activism and condemn politicians for not forcing their religious convictions on the public at large, they are in essence advocating for ‘the other guy'. All groups have a first-amendment right to speak out in support of their beliefs, but when they become a lobbying entity and blur the distinction between religion and politics they don't deserve tax relief. Focusing on narrow belief systems distracts public attention from far more serious concerns. Religious dogma and political ideology do not help to address the enormous challenges facing the country.
In the current hysteria about the economy many ideological zealots have resurrected their long-sought goal of destroying unions, attacking the UAW for contracts committing car manufacturers to high wage and benefit programs as well as expensive "legacy" agreements that entitle retirees to health care for life - - exaggerating workers' hourly pay has infuriated voters and raised media hackles. Unions have become the heavies. It may be recalled that Bush tax policy encouraged the production and sale of gas-guzzling SUVs as part of what it called an economic stimulus plan, creating a cash cow the auto industry apparently thought would last forever.
In any case no corresponding hue and cry has been raised about how banks are using the monies allotted to them, nor has there been a serious commitment to restructure executive pay and bonuses in companies receiving bailout funds. No-one has asked if bankers and others motored in to D.C. or arrived on company jets like the car execs did. As for legacies, the country is full of them for all sorts of people who have been retired for years but still receive free health care - - which impacts the current workforce for whom companies are unable or unwilling to provide medical benefits.
The incoming administration must sort through a jumble of executive orders and the mountain of debt created during the Bush years, and decide how bold it can reasonably be given the country's precarious financial state. The change that Obama and his supporters seek may be a tough sell in an already over-burdened economy, especially for those people who see things only in terms of their tax status. The right insists that tax cuts for the financially well-fixed make perfect sense because ‘poor people aren't job providers.' But Bush tax-cuts for the rich haven't exactly been a boon to the workforce.
When asked what he would miss when he leaves office, two things the president mentioned were Air Force One and White House food. He has always seemed especially interested in what's on the menu - - that pig-roast in Germany for instance. It's hard to imagine a less weighty response from an outgoing president than a food reference.
As Bob Herbert wrote (NY Times, 11/25/08) "One of the reasons the U.S. is in such deep trouble is that it has stopped being smart - - turning its back on excellence, sophistication and long-term planning - - in its public policies and corporate behavior. We've seen it in Iraq, in New Orleans, in the fiscal policies of the Bush administration, in the scandalous neglect of public education, in the financial sector melt-down, the auto industry and on and on. We've lionized dimwits. And now we're paying the price."
If the future is uncertain one thing we can be sure of is that ‘smarts' are on the way.
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