Mr. Happy and Today’s Front Page
I wanted to think and write today about something other than Reverend Wright, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic primary battle, because I’m just all tuckered out from it. I am a politics junkie, but a change of pace, a departure from one’s regular diet, is good. So I went looking for something else to chat about.
Fortunately, with Mr. Happy still in the White House, there’s always something to nibble on there. Yesterday, we heard him talk to us about the economy, and how it was the fault of Congress that we find ourselve in this little financial pickle we’re in today. He told us we aren’t in a recession, and if he had just a little cooperation from the knuckleheads in the House and Senate, if they’d just do their job, we’d all be fine.
By a show of hands, how many of you were able to find that story on the front page of any newspaper in the country today? After all, he’s the president of the United States, and you’d think his public remarks about most any subject would be news-worthy, wouldn’t you? The leader of the free world speaks out on the world’s most important economy, and it gets buried deep in this morning’s papers?
Irrelevant doesn’t come close to describing Mr. Happy’s standing today, it would seem. Yet, there he was yesterday trying to convince us that everything will be fine as soon as Congress starts listening to him and following his advice.
Gasoline is up to $3.63 a gallon in my part of the world (Massachusetts). Bread and milk are up again this week, too. News of rising food costs, reduced wheat production in the midwest, and rice rationing are getting the news play before his feeble attempt to pass the buck and the bucket.
The Fed just cut the benchmark for overnight loans between banks another quarter point, and it is now at just 2 percent — down from 5.25 percent when the rate slashing began last summer. It’s not likely to make any further cuts for the time being in light of the soaring food and energy prices, which are beginning to spill over into the wider costs of other goods and services. The quickest known antidote to higher inflation is to move interest rates back up again, and that roller coaster is likely to leave the loading dock later in the year.
I want to repeat this for you: POTUS can’t even find space on the front page of newspapers today. With every passing day, he helps us realize how oblivious he is to the conditions of the average American, and how out of touch with that reality he truly is. There’s a fellow at the gym early every morning who wears a watch with a countdown feature. He has it set to the number of days Mr. Happy has left in office, and he announces that count every morning for us. A 28% approval rate, or as I prefer to read it, a 72% disapproval rating, hasn’t happened without a lot of bad work on his part. He’s earned every one of those 72 points. His remarks yesterday were simply another reminder, and he got all the front page press for it he deserved.
As Dire Straits might sing the song today . . . . . “Mr. Happy doesn’t mind if he doesn’t make the scene. He’s got a daytime job and he’s doing all right.”
Political Commentary | Harrison | April 30, 2008
[...] Harrison Lives wrote an interesting post today on Mr. Happy and Today’s Front PageHere’s a quick excerptI wanted to think and write today about something other than Reverend Wright, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic primary battle, because I’m just all tuckered out from it…. [...]