I know, I know — “It’s a vast right-wing conspiracy” is NOT going to gain a lot of traction. So, let’s ditch the word “conspiracy” because it’s a loaded one that’s easy to caricature.
And yet, there does appear to be a concerted effort to undermine and de-legitimize President Obama. According to Senator Russ Feingold, these efforts seemed to get underway right after the inauguration.
The so-called “grass roots” Tea Party movement is anything but. It is organized and bankrolled by right-wing billionaires and the oil industry.
And recently jumping on the “Obama is a failed President” bandwagon are the very Wall Street movers and shakers that the President agreed to bail out when Bush proposed it via the TARP at the end of his presidency. Their main complaint is that they don’t want to be re-regulated AND they don’t want their personal income tax-rates to go up from 35% to the Clinton era rates at 39.6%.
These complaints seem petty, especially when we consider that the de-regulation that benefited their ability to roll the dice and pocket BIG profits backfired so badly on the world economy. But, the devastated world economy apparently has not effected their profits and lifestyles and so they see no reason to pay their fair-share, much less “pay the piper.”
We can see little legitimate reason for them to turn against Obama, nor do we think they would do so if they didn’t smell blood in the water.
And the blood-letting began with the Koch brothers, of Koch Industries. These billionaire brothers are among the worse polluters on the planet, don’t want any regulation (you see, regulations interfere with their ability to pocket profits!), and are fervently anti-government libertarians.
The uber wealthy will do all in their power to prevent change in this country — and one of their most successful tactics has always been the old “divide and conquer” approach. They put clowns like Beck and Limbaugh out front to carry their message and distract the country from the reality of the results of their policies — the ever widening gap between rich and poor.
Check out this article in The New Yorker about the Koch brothers and consider, just for a moment — What if all the anti-Obama, anti-government sentiment is being motivated by profit driven (and anti-patriotic as far as we’re concerned) greedy bastards?
Great write-up!
I agree with Jason.
Yes We Can!
Silversurfer ~ Thanks for your reminder of WHY we all worked so hard to get this President elected. And, you’re right — WE CAN! President Obama has accomplished a lot, and is beginning to turn this ship-of-state toward a much healthier future. We here at CLN know that the change is much slower than we all hoped it would be, and that many are disappointed and disillusioned — but you’re right, and thanks again for reminding us all: Yes, we can!