Truth is, the American people don’t know what they want
There’s a lot of fodder for thought and debate in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. But I’ll pick three questions in particular to start the evening conversation. The first involves the attitudes of President Obama and the Republican Party regarding business.
The second addresses the federal deficit and how it might be reduced. It’s easy to criticize our political leaders for refusing to tackle the issue seriously, but these poll results suggest that they’re merely reflecting the lack of seriousness among their constituents they represent. Mathematically, the only way to make serious progress on the spending side of the ledger is to start hacking at entitlements and defense, but 70 percent say they’re uncomfortable with that approach.
The other half of the equation is of course revenue. Fifty-nine percent say they’re uncomfortable with trying to close the deficit by increasing taxes. If you’re a politician, the message from the folks back home is that you can’t cut spending and you can’t raise taxes but you better cut the deficit.
Which is why, I suppose, we get treated to political grandstanding on an earmark ban, which will save a total of $16 billion a year. The public demands that something be done, and that nothing be done, which leaves theater the only option.
As U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., points out, ”Our problems are worsening at a rate of $8 billion a day — so earmarks represent basically two days of our problem. It’s almost impossible for people to comprehend. When I talk even to sophisticated audiences and try to clue them in, they react like kids being told a bedtime story. They want to know, ‘Where’s the happy ending?’ ”
In the third question, Americans are asked about their feelings toward various political figures and institutions. The results suggest that the intense animosity directed at the president from the right is largely contained there, bouncing around in the conservative echo chamber. Overall, Obama’s approval rating in the poll matches his disapproval rating, at 47 percent.
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321 comments Add your comment
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
9:45 pm
“There are many pretenders but very few craftsmen, that’s what I meant.”
Yes, well in that line of thought – that’s true of a LOT of the skilled trades.
RW-(the original)
November 18th, 2010
9:46 pm
Adam,
If you’re still around thanks for the link. I got called away and I’ll have to read it later, but we can discuss it next time we end up on here at the same time after that.
mikefrga
November 18th, 2010
9:46 pm
josef nix@9:13 pm
All the talk about scotch is making me thirsty
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
9:48 pm
mikefrga – sorry, but Josef signed off a few minutes ago
Doggone/GA
November 18th, 2010
9:50 pm
And i”m off too…’nite everryone
BeattheBushes
November 18th, 2010
10:03 pm
Lil’ Barry Bailout
November 18th, 2010
9:00 pm
BeattheBushes: higher taxes on those that do not CREATE US jobs.
——————
Hmm, how many US jobs are you creating this year?
Oh, once again, expecting someone else to do what you are not doing, eh?
———————————————————————————–
I am not creating any jobs this year so therefore I would pay more in taxes than someone who was or is creating US jobs or is that too hard for your mind to absorb.
Also since the tax cuts have been in place for so many years how many jobs have YOU created in the USA with those savings? And by that I mean directly (as in how many more people did YOU employ from 2001 through 2008)
md
November 18th, 2010
10:03 pm
“Wallpaper hanging – now there’s a lost art.”
Folks found out it was easier to change paint colors vs getting that wallpaper OFF the wall…………..
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 18th, 2010
10:52 pm
Well, the Braves have fired the manager of their AA affiliate, Phillip Wellman. He’ll always be remembered for this. Hope he lands on his feet somewhere.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggy6WGUFaYs
mikefrga
November 18th, 2010
11:29 pm
“Wallpaper hanging – now there’s a lost art.”
Folks found out it was easier to change paint colors vs getting that wallpaper OFF the wall…………..
———————————————–
I always found it easier to hang wallpaper after beer (don’t like stripes though) LOL
OTOH
November 19th, 2010
1:36 am
Earmarks themselves are not the big problem, however, we cannot afford them and every dollar we can save is a dollar we are not borrowing and more importantly they are examples of the real problem. We have continuously increased the things the Federal gov’t does for 10 decades pretending that the latest ineffective program costs nothing – it’s only a million or two. They add up. They also weaken the economy. each and every one.
Mary Elizabeth
November 19th, 2010
1:41 am
To Lil’ Barry Bailout 8:42 p.m.
“Why do you think this is happening?” (Barry, is referring to why money via the corporations is leaving our nation.)
I said the answer in my original statement that our nation is not investing in the infrastructure of transportation (speed rail like Europe and China), nor are we investing in new energy techniques and areas appropriate for the 21st Century. Investors, and corporations, are moving where these areas of human development for the 21st Century ARE happening. And they is not happening here in America because we are becoming regressive in our worldview and thinking instead of progressive. We are so focused on smaller and smaller government, and – Heaven forbid – that anyone take any of “my” personal money for taxes, that we are losing our ability to have a vision for the future. We have a leader in Barack Obama who has the vision we need to keep developing energy and transportation here. We are fortunate to have him, but until we stop being so small minded and egocentric as a nation, and start looking toward the future and being a little more creative with our vision for America for the future, corporate interests will continue to flee to those nations where they value 21st century industries and where they have already entered the 21st century. We are falling behind because we are becoming smaller and smaller minded as a people. We must think in a progressive way again, and for the best interests for the nation as a whole – not just think closed in thoughts that relate only to “my” own little world.
Just Saying...
November 19th, 2010
3:53 am
You know, it’s amazing that Cooper can communicate so much in one pithy remark, and Obama….
TnGelding
November 19th, 2010
5:26 am
Progressive! I’ll go for that. At least we finally got the drawbridge to the 21st century Bush erected down.
Read it and weep:
New studies concur that cardiovascular disease is primarily the result of lifestyle
On November 15, 2010, the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2010 featured presentations of the results of two studies which indicate that lifestyle has a greater impact on whether one will develop cardiovascular disease than being genetically predisposed to acquire the disease.
In the first study, researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine evaluated data from 2,336 men and women aged 18 to 30 upon enrollment in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults longitudinal study sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Diet, physical activity, alcohol intake, smoking status, weight, and blood pressure and glucose levels were assessed at the beginning of the study and at the seventh and twentieth years of follow-up.
Read it and smile:
http://www.ajc.com/business/kia-adding-another-1-746076.html
USinUK
November 19th, 2010
6:34 am
Thanks Jay –
you reminded me of one of my favorite scenes from the West Wing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4pB5_0AUVk
Jay
November 19th, 2010
6:46 am
Just sayin’, here’s the problem:
Imagine Cooper’s words being uttered by Obama: “When I talk even to sophisticated audiences and try to clue them in, they react like kids being told a bedtime story. They want to know, ‘Where’s the happy ending?”
Now imagine the hullaballoo that would ensue. American presidents are not allowed to speak to the American people like adults.
Mary Elizabeth
November 19th, 2010
6:48 am
And one more thing.
Our nation is fast becoming one which inhabited by rude, bullies – people “brutal” in their sensibilities. Why is this happening? Rush LImbaugh was, to my recollection, the first to call President Obama “The Messiah.” Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and their boss at FOXNews, Roger Ailes all have bully styles. President Bush had a bully style when he took us to war in Iraq and
declared, “Bring it on!” I would even say that Sarah Palin, who has the nickname Sarah “Barracuda” – long there since her adolescent days – has a bully style.
These are the people most Rightwing Americans are valuing and emulating. We should start speaking out against what is happening to our nation’s sensibilties. The world will never really respect this style. Moreover, “the bully style,” which so values brute power, is an obsolete way of communicating with others.
The United States is going to be left behind not only because corporate money is going overseas for 21 Century energy, transportation interests; we are going to be left behind because of our misguided “respect” for power through force, and our newly revisited anti-intellectualism in our country.
Valuing intellectual growth fosters mental refinement which is manifest in manners, courtesy, and respect toward others, i.e. Thomas Jefferson.
USinUK
November 19th, 2010
6:53 am
“American presidents are not allowed to speak to the American people like adults”
because the American People don’t act like adults.
they want easy fixes (we want unemployment down noooowwwwww)
they want everyone else to pay for their problems (cut government spending – just not MY programs)
TaxPayer
November 19th, 2010
7:25 am
Jay,
The American people do so know what they want — it goes something like having your cake and eating it too.
jm
November 19th, 2010
11:27 am
Our country is kaput. Short of some drastic measures. Ireland, Greece. Do we need this to happen to the US before we wake up and smell the coffee?
jm
November 19th, 2010
11:28 am
Austerity!
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
8:29 pm
If you like it, tell me on another one of Jay’s. I won’t be back to this one.