I realize your a busy man, but I felt compelled to clarify our earlier exchange. When I read "The Conscience of a Liberal" by Mr. Krugman, I interpreted President Obamas' exchange with his interviewer about the comparison of the salaried athlete and the CEO bank executive differently than you. Now I know the analogy our President made was in reference to baseball players salaries but I can predict that most of main street media along with many respected bloggers' as yourself as well as any red blooded fan will be engrossed by the impending NFL Players Union strike against corporate management. We all are fans & this will be a fascinating fiasco. I also predict that the word outrage and greedy will be used a lot. What audacity these millionaire and billionaires have squabbling over....well....negotiated contracts? You and I both know, we patronize the game, we honor the celebrity but in the end, we come to agreement that this is an issue between a corporate entity and its employees. No matter how much we hate that our ticket prices or memorabilia may go up, we can do nothing to stop it short of not watching the game anymore.
If you believe the conflict is about the tone of our President; well.............again, what do you expect him to say let alone do? If he does as the populous rage wants him to do and use full frontal attacks to channel anger against the financial industries credibility thinking this is a political benefit for some short sighted flash poll, I can not agree with you. This would not be productive or honest and it would be throwing red meat to a politically addicted #gop giving them another opening to shout Socialism and wealth distribution every chance they get.
I agree, Obamas' cavalier Eh-What do you want me to do attitude snipe on the surface sounds disconnected, but I argue that he was being logical and honest. If he came out and said, "short of tearing up the contracts these gentlemen had with their corporations, I can do nothing". Would that have convinced you and Mr. Krugman otherwise in you criticism? Unfortunately, he does not have that right to void negotiated contracts because we do not have actual governing ownership in the bank corporation they represent but just a material interest in non voting stock. We are a free market society and his governance has boundaries. TARP did not give him blanket authority and most of these guidelines were set up before he stepped into office.
Mr. Stranahan, the way I see President Obamas' presidency thus far can be described in one word: DIVIDE
We have a political party that is solely dedicated at this point in their history to getting back into power any way it can. The GOP pretends it is all about our freedoms and spending but actively uses its governing powers in supporting corporate interests over people interest. This has gutted the middle class because their perceived "free market" is really only free if they can deregulate industry giving free hand for markets to regulate themselves. We tried that philosophy and look what happened.
The Republican party in its current construct will parse every word this progressive President says for context, amplify it through corporate media, and then use the brilliance of corporate marketing and sales strategy to spin the messages in any direction they want. Right now the message is Fear and when that fear is about a man whose half black, with a funky name, pal'in around with terrorists, socialist Obama fear becomes an easy emotion to manipulate! Couple all this with a Democratic counterpart of the legislative branch who itself has lost its way and is as beholden to the money interests. Nothing can move or get done!!
Naturally, blaming Mr. Obama is easy and calling him out as Mr. Krugman and you did for something he said about something he can't control will always have people like me who think you are unfair. That being said; I am starting to question your motive for going after President Obama progressive agenda every chance you get. I always see your criticism but never your solutions. I am even starting to wonder if you are the progressive you claim to be. Your tone definitely makes me think not.
