Stupid Is As Stupid Does

I have been away from my trusty blog for a few weeks now. There are a couple of reason for my absence. The first reason is that I have been trying to get a new business venture off the ground, and the research and groundwork for that effort has taken a lot of time. The second thing keeping me away is disappointment. I am disappointed in the Obama administration. Disappointed with the Democrats in the congress. I am disappointed with the mainstream media, and I am most of disappointed in my fellow Americans.

In an outstanding column today Frank Rich, pretty well captures what I have been feeling. Rich summarizes all the issues, that have been bothering me. The feeling that change is not coming, that the new solutions and initiatives we were promised, are simply the old answers in new packaging. From hiring the same economic team that did not see the crisis coming, to not pursuing an aggressive enough health care plan, to allowing the loudmouth right wing wack jobs to frame the arguments, the President has so far fallen short of offering any hope of real change. I read about deals with the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, about lobbyists throwing money around like drunk convention goers in a strip club, and I worry that elections are simply a cruel joke to convince citizens that we actually have a say in matters.

More and more it appears that corporatism has taken hold in Washington, and will not easily be shaken loose. Instead of strict regulations, salary and bonus limits on bank executives, we find business more or less as usual on Wall Street. The profits are coming back, the credit going out, perhaps not so much. Stocks trading higher, still no jobs.

The health reform fiasco is an even bigger letdown. President Obama, repeatedly promised during the campaign that Americans would have an opportunity to select the same health care coverage that members of Congress have. Not a peep about that since being sworn in. Instead we have corporate Democrats and the Republicans doing their best to insure that there is not even a weak public option in any health care plan. The current plans being thrown about in congress seem to me to do little about the most pressing problems in US health care. The plan as being discussed does not even let most Americans opt into the government plan. It keeps most with their employer provided programs. I was hoping for a plan that would truly allow choice and competition, that would drive people to choose the government plan, and gradually lead us away from the untenable employer health care model.

Rich also brings up the latest example of the dwindling free press. The apparent agreement between CEO's of General Electric and News Corporation, to protect their "corporate interests' by declaring a cease fire between MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann and FOX loud mouth Bill o' Reily. Thank goodness for the blogosphere, which at least can keep those of us who seek knowledge informed.

But of course, the sad truth is most Americans are not seeking knowledge. They do not do homework on the issues. Rather they learn from mass e-mails filled with erroneous information presented as fact. Relying on sound bites from Limbaugh, Beck, and Hannity these statements are tossed around so freely they become urban myths. As Bill Maher put it the other day:

"Just because a country elects a smart president doesn't make it a smart country."

To quote another American icon "stupid is as stupid does".

I hope the President gets it together and proves me wrong. But he is going to have to be tougher. He needs to take a page from the Lyndon Johnson playbook, twist arms, make no compromise, use your popularity while it is still there. Because as LBJ found out once that popularity is gone, there is no getting it back.