Obama, the Populist
Published in Ultimas Noticias
(Venezuela) on 24 January 2010
by Mariadela Linares (link to original)
If we were not speaking about the president of a country that has just sent 30,000 more soldiers to Afghanistan and has Haiti kidnapped with a passive invasion of more than 10,000 Marines, I would say that Obama is putting himself in the list of revolutionary leaders of the continent. The words directed to the bankers: “If those folks want a fight, it’s a fight I’m ready to have," seems more like a comment made by Chavez. One almost gets excited.
The New York Stock Exchange fell immediately after Obama said that it was necessary to limit the size of banks and that they restrict themselves instead of making big and risky investments, with foreign money, of course. The surprise announcement, the “Yankee punch,” caught many off guard.
The polls had already announced that the president has arrived at the end of his first year with a notable decrease in the high popularity levels that he had when he first arrived in Washington — and for no good reason. The Yankees, always inclined to being prima donnas, had easily bought into the hope that a black Democrat would be able to get them out of the hole that Bush put them into, which means that Obama began to fall as soon as he started.
The escalation of broken promises — from ensuring the closure of Guantanamo prison, ending the wars that his own empire started, and finally, to trying to pass an increasingly unpopular health care bill — make it no surprise that many have described his plans and approaches as “populist” and that a decline in the stock market was ensured; talk of curbing capital in the cradle of capitalism is just short of heresy. It's like lying to the devil in the house of God.
Anyway, let’s not fall for lies. Obama’s proposals must first pass through the filter of Congress before becoming law, and we know that the Democrats have just lost their precious majority in the Senate with the votes that Scott Brown scored in Massachusetts, replacing the vacancy left by Ted Kennedy. In other words, the strategy is smart: Obama will be in good standing with his people and the banks will remain as is.
The New York Stock Exchange fell immediately after Obama said that it was necessary to limit the size of banks and that they restrict themselves instead of making big and risky investments, with foreign money, of course. The surprise announcement, the “Yankee punch,” caught many off guard.
The polls had already announced that the president has arrived at the end of his first year with a notable decrease in the high popularity levels that he had when he first arrived in Washington — and for no good reason. The Yankees, always inclined to being prima donnas, had easily bought into the hope that a black Democrat would be able to get them out of the hole that Bush put them into, which means that Obama began to fall as soon as he started.
The escalation of broken promises — from ensuring the closure of Guantanamo prison, ending the wars that his own empire started, and finally, to trying to pass an increasingly unpopular health care bill — make it no surprise that many have described his plans and approaches as “populist” and that a decline in the stock market was ensured; talk of curbing capital in the cradle of capitalism is just short of heresy. It's like lying to the devil in the house of God.
Anyway, let’s not fall for lies. Obama’s proposals must first pass through the filter of Congress before becoming law, and we know that the Democrats have just lost their precious majority in the Senate with the votes that Scott Brown scored in Massachusetts, replacing the vacancy left by Ted Kennedy. In other words, the strategy is smart: Obama will be in good standing with his people and the banks will remain as is.
Couple quick fact corrections:
1)Yankee is a pre-Civil War term for a Pro-Union citizen, more specifically, someone from the northers states. Even in modern usage it does not refer to all Americans.
2)With the election of Scott Brown, the Senate Democrats lost their Super-Majority. They still retain a 59-41 majority over the Republicans.