A Harry Situation

 

It was Harry Truman who said that if both parties run like Republicans, the real Republican will win. This election is one of those it seems. Here we are 22 months after the inauguration of a slightly left of center president who has managed to bring us health care reform, Wall Street reform, save two out of three of our car companies, and actually keep his promise to end the war in Iraq. 

He also sort of saved us from an economic depression with a stimulus plan that included way to much tax relief to placate the "R"s instead of real let's build a modern national infrastructure commitment. Not too bad considering that from the day after he took office, the "not so loyal" opposition has been just that, doing everything in their power to slow the recovery in the hopes of stuffing their little political piggy banks with the frustration of the working class on top of the petro chemical astroturf provided by the economic uberclass. 

The Rs and their corporate sponsors have achieved a propaganda bonanza it seems, especially when you consider  the actual facts:  

What was the average monthly private sector job growth in 2008, the final year of the Bush presidency, and what has it been so far in 2010? In 2008, we lost an average of 317,250 private sector jobs per month. In 2010, we have gained an average of 95,888 private sector jobs per month. (Source) That's a differenceof nearly five million jobs between Bush's last year in office and President Obama's second year. 

What was the Federal deficit for the last fiscal year of the Bush presidency, and what was it for the first full fiscal year of the Obama presidency? In FY2009, which began on September 1, 2008 and represents the Bush Administration's final budget, the budget deficit was $1.416 trillion. In FY2010, the first budget of the Obama Administration, the budget deficit was $1.291 trillion, a decline of $125 billion. (Source) Yes, that means President Obama has cut the deficit -- there's a long way to go, but we're in better shape now than we were under Bush and the GOP.  

What was the stock market at on the last day of the Bush presidency? What is it at today? On Bush's final day in office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 closed at 7,949, 1,440, and 805, respectively. Today, as of 10:15AM Pacific, they are at 11,108, 2,512, and 1,183. That means since President Obama took office, the Dow, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 have increased 40%, 74%, and 47%, respectively.  

We were all very naive to think that the election of the first black president would mark the end of racism in this country. Rather, we should have known that it would ignite the slumbering fire of hatred and fear that lives in our collective racial subconcious. And now it rages, like a California wild fire in a hot Santa Anna wind. And as every firefighter knows, it will not likely be controlled until those winds die down. For the calm of reason cannot easily cool the heat of mendacity. 

Truman also said, "I never give them hell, I just give them the truth and they think it's hell. "For we must build a new world, a far better world, one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected." 

It's a Harry situation. 

 

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