Sunday, January 8, 2012

Epic Fail!

Herbert Hoover
Barack Obama
         Lets' compare and contrast. Herbert Hoover with Barack Obama. First, I researched their legislation. That was pretty depressing, (get it? depression?) because there's not much of a difference. One thing I kind of think is in Hoover's favor is his dam. Although, I think people died building it, and it probably wreaked havoc on the environment. But hey, he got something accomplished!  Along with plunging us into The Great Depression. Actually I think Obama might do this too. (a depression, not  a dam) Neither of these people were effective leaders. And neither was their legislation. 
                     Let's explore some of their achievements, starting with Hoover.    
  • Mexican Repatriation Act - Over 500,000 Mexicans and Mexican-Americans relocated to Mexico. I don't want to get into how wrong this was. Apparently it didn't work to well.
  • Smoot-Hawley Tariff - Raised tariffs on imported goods. Which in turn other countries raised tariffs on our goods. Making the economy worse.
  • R.F.C. or Reconstruction Finance Corporation. Let's see, where have I heard this before? 2 billion given to all kinds of greedy banks and businesses, of course it didn't work. Later it was found out that there were a lot of politicians giving money to all their business friends. 
  • Financial Home Loan Bank Act - This one did help some people who might have been foreclosed on. But it just wasn't enough. Sound familiar?
  • Revenue Act Of 1932 - This raised revenue on the 1%. By a whopping 63%. Good move! 
      Now let's look at Obama.
  • American Recovery And Reinvestment Act - Have you recovered? I sure haven't.
  • Tax relief, Unemployment Insurance, Reauthorization And Job Creation Act - Really?
  • Patient Protection Affordable Care Act - I can't afford healthcare.
  • Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act - Yeah, what great reform. So much has changed.
  • Matthew Shepherd-James Byrd Hate Crimes Law- Good idea, at least he did that.
  • Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act - Another good idea. Now he has two of 'em.
  • Public Private Investment Program - This was Geithners big idea. That's right, one of the architect's of the Great Recession! How could it fail? Well, because banks won't take less for their toxic assets, so, say goodbye to another amazingly, unhelpful, piece of crap.
  • Car Allowance Rebate - "Cash For Clunkers" I think this probably helped some people, but mostly the automobile industry.
  •  Home Owners Rebate - Boy what a miracle! Housing is booming! 
  •  Budget Control Act Of 2011 - A super committee is born! And, is completely ineffectual!
I think we can conclude that Hoover and Obama have a lot in common. At a time when a complete overhaul of a broken system is needed, both of them are an epic fail. So I here's what I think, but I hope doesn't happen, We WILL go into a Great Depression, people are going to get even more desperate. (check out Hoover's "Bonus Army", the first Occupy Washington DC. Herbert Hoover - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )  Looks like Obama is making the same mistakes Hoover did. So glad we elected a Harvard grad. Who should be way smarter than me, but just isn't. He's propping up the same old tired ideas, perpetrated by criminals that should be prosecuted, not put in positions of power. And it doesn't look like anyone with near the skills of Roosevelt is anywhere on the horizon. We're pretty much screwed.                                                        

8 comments:

  1. Patricia, I'm going to be the last person to cheerlead for what I think has been a dismal first term for Obama, BUT, having said that, I think the "sucks like a Hoover" analogy is a bit over the top. Hoover wasn't fighting an obstructionist Congress with the organized right wing echo chamber and Faux News type propaganda machine. Hoover didn't inherit two immoral wars and occupations. Hoover didn't face knee-jerk racist hate mongers at every turn.
    Obama's not been the beacon of progressive hope we voted for, but then again, he's been swimming upstream against a tide of assholery most of us could never fathom facing. The "cash for clunkers" bullshit took a lot of gas hogs off the road, and the auto industry bailout has almost paid for itself and saved as many as two million jobs in the auto industry itself and its supply industries.
    It's hard to point to the health care mandate as a victory, but a lot of people who didn't have coverage now do, and a lot more soon will if the Republithugs don't repeal the act.
    My hope is for a second term sans the drama of a reelection campaign. What option do we have?
    I don't know how you've managed to turn my cynical ass into a positive voice for his reelection, but I think Obama's our last best hope for the next election cycle, by far.
    feel free to rip me to shreds for such heresy, I'm sure I have it coming...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I was going to say what squatlo said. (More or less.) Here's hoping Obama's OJT is just about over.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Let us be clear. Hoover was his own worst enemy. During Hoover's tenure in office he vetoed spending that congress tried to push through, like the unemployment relief bill, that included $500 million for public works. He lacked vision. As for Obama, not being the "beacon of progressive of hope we voted for" well there's the rub. When he had the power, when the Democrats were in control, he should have lost no speed jamming through legislation to help the people who voted for him. He didn't. I agree and so does John Huntsman, that the Republicans are recalcitrant, like Hoover, Obama is his own worst enemy, or his own best friend. Depends on how you look at it. If Obama is our best hope, than I guess I don't have much. Now suddenly Obama is calling out the GOP. Since he gave his rich friends a tax cut even Hoover wouldn't dream of. Apparently your "cynical ass" isn't cynical enough. By the way, until you've faced life as a single mother, you have no idea what a tide of assholery actually looks like.And since I live in Jersey on the coast, the high assholery tide is twice a day, my friend. Our only hope is a third party candidate, and that's pretty much not going to happen. You are entitled to your opinion and I am glad you expressed it. I wonder how many people you know would vote for Obama again?

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Democrats were never truly 'in control.' They should have been but they are never as united as the Republicans. So a Max Baucus or two are able to wreak much havoc and weaken everything. Though I do think Obama should have pushed harder. He tries too hard, sometimes, to appeal to everybody and there just isn't any way to do that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Patricia, when you refer to the period when Obama had a majority in both houses, there was no filibuster proof majority, given that Nelson and DINO's like him were willing to side with the GOP on every issue. True, he could have done more to press his case. But to write him off as Hoover-lite is harsh, even for his worst bashers.
    And no, I don't know what it's like to be a single mom living on the coast of Jersey. But as for how many of the people I know "would vote for Obama again" I assume you mean if they could have their 2008 vote OVER again, with 20/20 hindsight and all that perfect world vision. Probably not nearly as many of us would pick him over Hillary given a second go at that primary vote. BUT, all of the Obama voters I personally know intend to vote for him a second time simply because he's the best hope for America's middle class.
    It's important to remember this, while we're up... Obama not only saved the UAW with the auto deal, he saved one of the most active ground networks of Democratic supporters. The GOP's push to kill the auto deal was primarily based on their intent to cripple the labor movement, and thus the Democratic Party's most ardent support system.
    If you're truly unhappy with Obama's first term to the point where you intend to sit out the election, I hope you don't get to face being a single mom on the Jersey coast with the Koch Brothers calling the shots for a Republican White House and both houses of Congress. Sitting one out to protest the failures of the incumbent is a great way to get yourself a dose of fuckery you can't even imagine. If progressives aren't willing to fight to keep the robber barrons out of control, they might as well shackle themselves to the mast as the ship goes down. Citizens United is the tip of the judicial iceberg if the next president is a Republican and gets to nominate two or three more Justices to be confirmed by a GOP Congress. The court alone is worthy of your vote.
    I can't make the smell go away, and understand your justifiable frustration, but giving up the field to those assholes is not an option for anyone who loves this country.

    Hope you'll give it a lot of thought between now and November. Look at the alternatives, imagine them calling the shots (reproductive rights, union rights, religion in every aspect of your life and the lives of your kids and their schools, deregulation of air/water/food/medicine safeguards, increasingly restrictive voting rules to keep out the "wrong" people, immigration wars, etc.)
    It's a future too bleak to consider, regardless of your current frustrations with Obama and his do-nothing Congress.

    I'll get off your soap box now, and yield the remainder of my time to the lady who writes this blog...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Okay Squat, there's been plenty of comparisons of Obama to Hoover, something must be resonating.
    As much as I would have loved to vote for Hillary, she's no stranger to Wall St. and Bill unraveled Glass-Steagle, making Wall St. happy.
    Voting for Obama is like voting for the status quo. The trouble is they are ALL assholes, Getting the same donations from the same Wall St. Banks. So we hold our noses and vote for Obama. That's just plain sad. I understand your point. I just wonder if things will get better with out some kind of revolution. Or some kind of leader like Roosevelt. Is it possible that Obama could get his "Roosevelt" on in 2012 and really give us the change we need and deserve?

    ReplyDelete
  7. "Universal suffrage is the best form of cloak for the ruling class, as it maintains an idealistic shade of freedom and democracy when, in truth, such attributes do not exist." V. I. Lenin

    Which pretty much sums up my feelings about our no Party system. However, I have to agree completely with Squatlo above in that if the Republithugs aren't defeated, we are in for a hell of an assholerly. That has to be priority number one. And then we must hold the Democrats' feet to the fires of hell to get them to deserve our votes. In the meantime, check out Rocky Anderson's campaign (seriously, do it). And while you're at it, look into cpusa.org (there, that's my part of the soap box, back to you!)

    ReplyDelete