by Dave McGill

President Obama uttered these annoying words yesterday and it is just another of the many reasons that incumbents in both parties are in serious trouble. The statement was annoying, not just because it was premature – which it was – but because it was obviously based on conditions in the corporate sector rather than on Main Street. Companies are currently basking in the luxury of lower labor costs, rock-bottom interest rates, soaring productivity (because of the fewer workers) and, in many cases, the falling dollar. These are all factors that are not considered to be sustainable but nevertheless they’re an important part of the financial results being reported these days.

The president’s obvious disregard for conditions on Main Street has not set well with the public and it is adding to the general disaffection that exists with politics in general. As of this month, 15,000,000 Americans are out of work. The more realistic unemployment rate (the S-6) is at 16.5% and poised to rise further. Problems at the national level have now cascaded down to the local level. Many cities and states are looking at significant budget deficits, forcing layoffs and the termination of programs aimed at helping the less fortunate. Credit ratings are being lowered, adding to the woes, and state pension funds are increasingly becoming aware that they will not be able to meet future obligations. Furthermore, according to an article in yesterday’s L.A. Times, “experts fear that a new wave of foreclosures will hit this year, as prolonged unemployment makes it difficult for millions of homeowners to pay their mortgages…”

In short, the economic situation on Main Street is bad and getting worse. If it is not a “depression,” or if it does not become a “depression,” it may only be because there is no set definition for one. However long the dark days last, the lack of effort to create jobs is the number one reason for the public’s dissatisfaction with incumbents and office holders from the president and his treasury department, to Congress, and on to the Federal Reserve. All have done wonders for Wall Street while more or less ignoring Main Street.

As of November 30th of 2008 – that was 15 months ago – the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve had committed $8 trillion to “Wall Street” companies, of which over $3 trillion had been doled out. On the other hand, as of today, only one third of the $787 billion stimulus package for Main Street – approved one year ago – has actually gone out the door.

Looking towards the fall elections, the Democrats are considered to be in deep trouble, and well they should be. They have been the party in power and must take the blame for the lack of effective action to create jobs. In addition, despite having a year-long, filibuster-proof majority, the Democratic Congress was also unable to deliver the much needed healthcare reform legislation.

The degree of this need was no more effectively revealed than by a recent announcement from one of the nation’s largest health insurers. California’s Blue Cross Anthem said it would increase premiums by up to 39% this year, generating howls of protest from Washington to Sacramento. The increases have since been put on hold, but what was important was the reason they were needed in the first place. The insurer said they were necessary because healthy young policyholders were dropping out, opting to join the ranks of the uninsured, leaving the company with a pool of higher-risk policyholders.

This is a solid indication that a health reform package, requiring near universal coverage, would save considerable money in premium expenses in addition to avoiding the hidden costs associated with the uninsured when they require expensive treatments.

While the Democrats seem to be getting the bulk of the bad press these days, the Republicans are not off the hook by any means. Americans are quickly learning just how dedicated that side of the aisle is to providing benefits for the wealthy and denying benefits to all others.

No Republican in the House and only three Republicans in the Senate voted for the stimulus bill. Furthermore, the failure of healthcare reform was due in no small part to the Republican effort to derail anything that Obama might get credit for, regardless of the consequences for the country.

Furthermore, as a party, Republicanism seems to be fragmenting.

A new “Roadmap for America’s Future,” recently unfurled by Congressman Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) is nothing more than an effort to dismantle federal social programs. He falsely claims Social Security is “shrinking” and proposes that it be privatized, placing the future welfare of millions of Americans at the mercy of the stock market. It is hardly a surprise that it also would eliminate taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.

Also, the Tea Party Movement seems more radical every day. It’s recent meeting sounded more like a gathering of the Ku Klux Klan. Yesterday, the Tea-Partyites rolled out their version of what the country needs. Signed at the home of George Washington, just uphill from the slaves’ quarters, it is called the Mount Vernon Statement. Basically, it says nothing, contains no specifics and is devoid of any meaningful recommendations.

The wild comments of the apparent spokesmen for the Republican party are not helping their cause either. Two of the most prominent mouthpieces are Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. Neither is an office holder but what they say affects every incumbent.

Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh referred to the president as “Dumbo” for calling the last ten years the “Lost Decade.” Can any thinking person really disagree with the president? Personally, I believe a strong case can be made for calling it the worst decade in the nation’s history. The name I came up with awhile back was the “Decayed Decade.”

As for Cheney, he criticized Obama last Sunday on many points but one in particular stood out. He said Obama should have acted faster in deciding to send more troops to Afghanistan. Again, thinking people are insulted and turned off by such inane talk and Americans seem to be hearing more and more of it every day.

As we are well aware, the Bush/Cheney administration abandoned Afghanistan for an unecessary war in Iraq which eventually saw a 25% increase in troops, dramatically called “the surge,” some four years after it started. Obama, on the other hand, increased our troop strength in Afghanistan by 200% during his first year in office. Regardless of how one feels about our campaign in Afghanistan, Cheney’s statement, like many others he makes, was beyond the pale.

According to the Gallup Poll, the number of voters who identify themselves as Republican is 27% of the electorate, against 33% who identify themselves as Democrat and 37% who call themselves independent.

If one can assume that flexible-thinking Americans are likely to be clustered among the ranks of the independents, it is this group that will decide the results of the election in the fall.

In my opinion, these results will be nothing less than a bloodbath for both camps. By all rights it should be the year of the challenger. The incumbents deserve to fall like flies.

The battle cry should be: “Throw the bums out – all of them!”.