In his inaugural address in 1933, newly elected President Franklin Roosevelt told a nation gripped by the Great Depression, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” In President Obama’s address 76 years later he said, “We are here because we have chosen hope over fear.”
But apparently, implementing hope is too difficult — fear is much easier. In an attempt to build support for the Democrats’ stimulus package, President Obama used a tried-and-true strategy: scare the crap out of people. In a primetime press conference, Obama said the nation was in the “worst economic crisis since the Great Depression” and faced a “catastrophe” if Congress didn’t pass the stimulus bill.
Instead of following Roosevelt’s and his own words of reassurance, Obama has chosen to use people’s fear for political gain. Throughout his administration, Bush was dogged by critics who said he used the “politics of fear” to sell the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama’s approach is no different.
First, the crisis is not the worst economic times since the Great Depression. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the unemployment rate has been higher three times since 1960. Reduction in GDP is actually much less than every other post-World War II recession, according to the Federal Reserve. So Depression comparisons by Obama are, at best, premature.
Also, this piece of legislation is anything but the emergency package the Democrats would have us believe. A considerably small portion of the $838 billion bill is actually aimed at stimulating the economy. The rest is the same old pork barrel projects that always get pushed through Congress — funding to expand a school in Wisconsin that actually has declining enrollment, adding a government agency that oversees the type of care doctors are providing, giving money to the National Institute of Standards in Technology to do whatever it is they do.
Obama’s first few weeks in office have been anything but the change he promised. His fear mongering to get the stimulus bill passed is no different than the strategy used by Republicans to pass the Patriot Act. “Either pass this or the terrorists win,” sounds a lot like “Either pass this or we go into a Depression.”
Three of his Cabinet appointees have unpaid back taxes, and two were forced to withdraw, similar to the cronyism of the Bush Administration. Obama claims to have banned lobbyists from serving in his administration, but at least three officials working for him have lobbied in the past, according to a Feb. 9 Associated Press article. Obama recognizes people are hurting, that they “have no idea what to do or who to turn to.” McCain adviser Phil Graham was partially right when he said that we are in a “mental recession,” meaning that our economy is largely driven by individuals’ attitude.
People’s fear is reflected in the economy. Obama’s use of fear might get him votes in Congress, but it only hurts us in the long run. Obama was elected on a mandate of hope and change. It’s time he started governing that way.
3 comments
M-O-R-O-N-S. You guys caused this, now the Democrats have to clean up after the mess you stupid little boys made.