Reply #34: The Metaphor rings true as a Warning.

[radhika]

I agree that Obama is not Bush; the Economic Crisis is not Katrina. But THE METAPHOR 'Katrina Moment' has potent value to forever brand Obama's diligent efforts: When the US/FEMA response to Katrina was proven to be fully inadequate and staffed by the unfit and unconcerned, Americans started to wake up from their sleep. Bush never again had as much knee-jerk fealty as before, the Emperor was naked and his courtiers dysfunctional.

Admit it: Some aspects of the Obama/Treasury response are not reassuring to everyday Americans (as in transparency, overall approach, the terms of ownership/governance, lack of forensic oversight, secret text changes in Senate Bills, possibly concealed fraud). Five times this week, Obama had to announce he would 'TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY'. If so many mea culpas are needed, his team needs a shake-up. The economic team is staffed by unfit beings (BushCo/GS loyalists, lobbyists, Fed). These pros aren't outright jokes like Horse-Show Brownie, but they don't 'get' everyday Americans if indeed they have even met one of us. They likely view Government as a market tool for Wall Street profiteering.

Disregard Frank Rich at your peril. This Populist uprising could prove to be another wake-up moment for broke, foreclosed and unemployed Americas. I do not think it is FAIR, but it is HAPPENING. And if Obama can't fix it FAST, he too will be viewed as a naked and his court dysfunctional. Aspirational statements ("sweeping regulation of Exec Pay") won't cut it, if BO is unable to cleanse the process of the very interests that the public resents.

Ominous: It would be tragic and heartbreaking if the Repugs could grab the High Ground of Populism in 2010.