I read that Barack Obama spoke admiringly of how Ronald Reagan managed to tap so adroitly into the zeitgeist of the times that successfully got him elected President. His cheery optimism, combined with his sunny "Gipper" personality, is what people fed into, not realizing that the guy was as dumb as a brick and probably partially senile as it was. But by God, he was known as "The Great Communicator" and people lauded him for his ability to speak to them on some kind of level that they could understand. What they probably didn't realize was that every single thing he said was carefully scripted by his writers and that he probably didn't say a thing that wasn't already written down in front of him.
This was also the President so responsible for union busting and for beginning the neocon revolution that would eventually land Dumb Dubya in the White House. So I must say that I am shocked that such a wildly popular candidate like Obama would speak so glowingly of Reagan, suggesting to me that he's probably more of a "Reagan Democrat" than a real progressive like Kucinich. It really taints my entire view of him and makes me want to cast my vote for anybody but him. If Kucinich finally gives up and folds his tent before the Ohio primary on March 4th, I will vote for Edwards, if he's still a viable candidate by then. At least Edwards is courting the Democratic side of the Democratic Party, speaking a more populist, anti-corporate, pro-middle class message than just about anyone. So for now, my vote's for either Kucinich or Edwards. Just depends on who's still running by the time Super-Duper Tuesday has come and gone next month.
Sorry to keep harping on politics, but for those members of the family who are tuning in to find out the latest goings on with me or with what's going on here locally, I'll try to oblige and write something about local doings later. But for now, I just had to rant about what Obama has said so glowingly regarding Reagan. It's going to be interesting to see what the fallout is to his campaign, especially in the blue collar and labor communities who were so drastically affected by Reagan's anti-union, anti-blue collar, pro-business, pro-corporate, pro-wealthy policies. I know that it's been said that the reason that Obama lost New Hampshire is because he appeals more to the Volvo driving, latté sipping, well educated elites, where Hillary draws most of her appeal among the high school educated, blue collar working class people who are and traditionally have been the backbone of the Democratic Party.
If this doesn't drive more people into her camp, I don't know what will. Honestly, it's looking more and more like we're going to see Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton, two families ruling America for the space of an entire generation, which I find highly distasteful. It smacks of dynasties, and that's just wrong. We are a country that was founded on the idea of getting away from that sort of thing, not perpetuating ruling families like an Empire or a Dynasty. We do need fresh blood in Washington, not just the same old tired voices proposing the same old tired policies that have been tried and failed. But if Obama revealing himself to be a "Reagan Democrat", well, he just lost me. Can't we just please nominate John Edwards and get it overwith? Forget Hillary. Forget Obama. It's time for a real progressive to step up to the plate, not just some namby-pamby conciliator or Republican Lite who won't have the cojones to take our country forward into the new century in a new and positive direction that we can all be proud of.
This was also the President so responsible for union busting and for beginning the neocon revolution that would eventually land Dumb Dubya in the White House. So I must say that I am shocked that such a wildly popular candidate like Obama would speak so glowingly of Reagan, suggesting to me that he's probably more of a "Reagan Democrat" than a real progressive like Kucinich. It really taints my entire view of him and makes me want to cast my vote for anybody but him. If Kucinich finally gives up and folds his tent before the Ohio primary on March 4th, I will vote for Edwards, if he's still a viable candidate by then. At least Edwards is courting the Democratic side of the Democratic Party, speaking a more populist, anti-corporate, pro-middle class message than just about anyone. So for now, my vote's for either Kucinich or Edwards. Just depends on who's still running by the time Super-Duper Tuesday has come and gone next month.
Sorry to keep harping on politics, but for those members of the family who are tuning in to find out the latest goings on with me or with what's going on here locally, I'll try to oblige and write something about local doings later. But for now, I just had to rant about what Obama has said so glowingly regarding Reagan. It's going to be interesting to see what the fallout is to his campaign, especially in the blue collar and labor communities who were so drastically affected by Reagan's anti-union, anti-blue collar, pro-business, pro-corporate, pro-wealthy policies. I know that it's been said that the reason that Obama lost New Hampshire is because he appeals more to the Volvo driving, latté sipping, well educated elites, where Hillary draws most of her appeal among the high school educated, blue collar working class people who are and traditionally have been the backbone of the Democratic Party.
If this doesn't drive more people into her camp, I don't know what will. Honestly, it's looking more and more like we're going to see Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton, two families ruling America for the space of an entire generation, which I find highly distasteful. It smacks of dynasties, and that's just wrong. We are a country that was founded on the idea of getting away from that sort of thing, not perpetuating ruling families like an Empire or a Dynasty. We do need fresh blood in Washington, not just the same old tired voices proposing the same old tired policies that have been tried and failed. But if Obama revealing himself to be a "Reagan Democrat", well, he just lost me. Can't we just please nominate John Edwards and get it overwith? Forget Hillary. Forget Obama. It's time for a real progressive to step up to the plate, not just some namby-pamby conciliator or Republican Lite who won't have the cojones to take our country forward into the new century in a new and positive direction that we can all be proud of.
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