America at a fork in the road

[UpInArms]

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/11/01/obama_review_wideweb__470x320,0.jpg
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama at a rally at the American Legion Mall in Indianapolis.

In the eight years of the Bush Administration, middle-class American incomes have fallen by $US2000. Massive wealth creation has been concentrated in the richest 5 per cent, and the income gap between rich and poor is at its widest since 1929. Job creation has been very uneven across the country.

Pressed down by globalisation for a decade, the American Midwest rust belt - states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana - face an even bleaker restructuring. The discontent - and the desire for change that both candidates have tapped into - is reflected in collapsing confidence. Eighty-five per cent of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track, according to one poll.

So, what directions are possible? Norm Ornstein, of the American Enterprise Institute, says it's a battle of the two Roosevelts - Teddy (Republican president 1901-09) and his distant cousin Franklin D. (Democrat 1933-45). Obama favours more government intervention, a la FDR, while McCain cites Teddy, a fiscal conservative, as his model.

But Obama's plans are not as radically different as McCain would have Americans believe. His accusation that Obama is a socialist with an agenda to "spread the wealth around" resonates at McCain-Palin rallies, where placards equate Obama to a socialist or communist, a more injurious insult in America than it would be in Australia. Indeed, the Obama agenda is far less redistributive than many of the policies both sides of Australian politics support.

There is nothing like the family payments scheme, which redistributes wealth to families with children. Obama shied away from a single government scheme like Medicare, in favour of incentives for 47 million people to insure privately or join a government safety net scheme on pain of a fine. He has said little about what he will do to address the looming problem of retirement benefits.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/us-election/america-at-a-fork-in-the-road/2008/10/31/1224956332757.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2

leave it to the foreign press to actually tell it like it is

(edited 'cuz I forgot the link :blush: )

[Jackpine Radical]

1. I agree with Yogi Berra, who said

"When you come to a fork in the road, you should take it."

Actually, I'm hoping that Barack the President will end up being more progressive than Barack the Candidate. That was certainly true of FDR.

[scarletwoman]

2. Remember what you posted after the FISA vote? Your simple plan?

Get the guy elected and then never let up. We've got a long way to go and a lot of work to do. Getting Obama in the White House is only the first step.

sw

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Amen to that.

But I also expect that these are times that will make a progressive out of any politician who actually grapples with the coming problems. There are no solutions in individual, greed-based business-as-usual. Only collective efforts can advance the interest of collective survival. We need to be there every step of the way, nagging, nagging, nagging...

[Jackpine Radical]

6. As Yogi would say, "It ain't over 'til it's over"

[zbdent]

3. Actually, some of the "Yogi-isms" make sense ... the "When you come to a fork

in the road, take it ..."

Take the chance, don't regret the other path, and go on and do what you need to do ...

[Jackpine Radical]

5. ALL of Yogi's sayings make sense--

sometimes maybe only in the way that a koan makes sense, but that is a higher way. I hail Yogi as an unsung genius.