After last night's election disaster,
President Obama appeared before the press. He essentially took
the blame for all our current problems, and vowed to work more
closely with the Republicans. To every question asked by reporters
- and almost every one of them I heard was some variation of "do
you regret that everybody in the country hates your philosophies
and management strategies? - he answered that he would work with
the Republicans to do better "now that the people have spoken."
Hello, Mr. President. Where have you been the past couple years?
I know you want to be conciliatory, and reunite the nation but,
please, please, please - wake up, wise up, and grow up. You are
to blame, in the sense that you've let the Republicans and other
assorted crazies run roughshod over you, but you did not cause
our current national woes. Accepting the blame is not Presidential.
I'd like to re-do the speech and press conference. As I see
it, President Obama would do his usual walk down the aisle and
up to the podium. But he wouldn't start speaking right away. He'd
looked out at the press corps, maybe hum quietly for a moment,
and then when everything was still, when everyone was waiting
in moderate anticipation.... He would sing.
He would pause, then. There would
be a little nervous laughter, a little shuffling around. If you
thought there was anticipation before, well... He wouldn't look
at the assembled press corps, yet. As a matter of fact, he'd just
stare off into space for a long moment or two. If you listened
very closely, you might hear him say - just barely loud enough
to be picked up by the mikes - something that sounded like "coals
to Newcastle," and then something that was maybe "cut
off your nose to spite your face." The room would get very,
very quiet. At last, he would let his glance sweep the room, and
very quietly he would say:
"My fellow citizens, and ladies and gentlemen of the press,
yesterday you screwed the country. On a more personal note, most
of you screwed yourselves. After begging for change before the
2008 election - change to help our country and its citizens to
recapture the 'American Dream - you let me have less than two
years to correct the disasters of the previous eight years. Those
were months in which the Republicans not only refused to negotiate
for change - they refused to do anything. Despite them, we made
good progress stopping our national tailspin into Hell, and even
made modest improvements. We showed you this over and over. Every
reputable analysis showed it. So, let me ask you straight out:
what the fuck were you thinking?
"I'm at a loss to understand what has happened. Maybe
I'm not smart enough to be President, and maybe I just 'don't
get it.' Maybe, but I think there has to be more to it than that.
Help me out, here.
"Do you really believe I'm an un-American communist or
socialist, and that I'm out to destroy the United States?
"Do you really believe that the people who gave you the
previous eight years of skyrocketing national debt, overwhelming
loss of jobs and loss of personal security and personal income,
will come back into power after two years and correct all the
problems they caused?
"Do you think that the new crop of legislators - many
of whom still seem to be fixated on whether or not I have an American
birth certificate, not on bringing back employment opportunities
- will get right to work to fix our economy? Will they even cooperate
with other Republicans, let alone Democrats?
"Do you think that Republican control of one house of
Congress will suddenly cause them to drop their persona as 'the
Party of No,' and move heaven and earth to save this country?
"If you answered 'yes' to any one of the questions I just
posed, then you deserve what you will be getting. Unfortunately,
those of us who don't 'deserve it' will be taken down with those
of you who do."
"Still, I don't understand
why you have done what you've done. Are you so much into 'instant
gratification' that you don't understand the depths of our national
problems, so can't give anybody more than two years to work on
them? I don't think it can be a basic education problem; we don't
have the best schools in the world, but our populace is certainly
educated enough to understand something of the predicament we
are in. Even if you don't know precisely what needs to be done,
surely you have a pretty good idea about what is best for you
personally. And, believe it or not, your 'selfish interest' is
really the same as that of perhaps 95 percent of our population.
Our problems can be worked out, but not if you're not even smart
enough to help yourself."
"There is one other factor here that can't be overlooked. I am a black man - not very black, perhaps, but it would be foolish not to acknowledge that my African pigmentation affects how some people think of my right and abilities to be President. I don't know that many people hate me, but I know that in our 'free' country there is an undefined but prevailing fear of minorities. To a lesser, but still significant, extent, there is a resentment against minorities being in perceived positions of power over whites. If you feel that way, I can't convince you that I don't have some kind of anti-White agenda, but surely you can at least try to be rational about it with yourself. The President does not RULE; most Presidents haven't even been able to control their own party in Congress, let alone have much effect on others. Under the most favorable conditions, I can't effect change by myself. Even if I decided to run for a second term and I won, how could I possibly do as much damage in the next six years as was done to the country by the last Administration?
"Now, I've given you two
terrific headlines, and I see a few of your colleagues have already
slipped out of the room to get a head start on the rest of you.
Which headline will you use? 'Obama plays the race card?' 'Obama
may not seek second term?' I don't think it is unrealistically
cynical to think that at least three-quarters of you will use
one or the other - or perhaps both. However, if you want to wait
around a few more minutes, I can give you something that may actually
be meaningful. Here it is.
"According to the news, yesterday happened because I and
my Administration have been unable to turn the economy around
in our first 22 months. According to the news, none of our 'stimulus'
programs have done any good, most or all have done harm, and everything
we might propose is likely to make the situation worse. So be
it. I won't abdicate my role as chief executive officer until
I get fired, but here's what I will do. There has been a lot of
talk about the Democrats trying to force a lot of unpopular legislation
through the system during this two-month 'lame duck' session.
Because all the new Republicans were reportedly elected because
they have definite ideas about how to turn the economy around
and put the nation back to work, I don't want anything in my economic
agenda to get in their way. For the last two months of this session
and the first month of the 2011 session, I won't sign any economic
legislation except that which is legally mandated. I don't want
to interfere with the legitimate business of the Legislative Branch,
but I will encourage them to devote their time to significant
issues that do not have large price tags or major revenue-based
consequences. Apparently the Republicans have their proposals
well formulated, and in three months time should be able to prepare
a clear economic strategy for at least the next two years. I encourage
across the aisle participation in getting together a strategy,
but perhaps the Republicans want a chance to present their own
clear, uncompromised package first. In any event, whatever package
is given to me around the first of February 2011, my Administration
will do all we can to make sure that the the American public has
every opportunity to view the proposals in their fully described,
uncut format. Whatever happens from that point on is, of course,
in the hands of Congress."
"I will not take the blame for not solving all the Nation's
ills in 22 months on the job. The fault is clearly with the last
Administration. I would like to have seen our programs be more
effective, but with absolutely no Republican involvement in the
processes, we did the best we could - better, in fact, than we
might have expected. Unfortunately, progress so far has shown
up in the health of 'The Economy,' but not yet significantly for
individuals. The new Republicans apparently have the plan to
keep the healing going forward. We all fervently hope so."