Distance

After Jesse Jackson told a World Policy forum that under Barack Obama "Zionists who have controlled American policy for decades" would lose some of their influence with Obama in the White House, and that "decades of putting Israel's interests first" would come to a close, Obama moved swiftly to distance himself from Jackson.

Wide receivers would like to put as much distance between themselves and cornerbacks as Obama puts between himself and his former friends and colleagues.

Let's see. By my count Obama has:

1) Distanced himself from his pastor and mentor of over 20 years, Rev. Wright, claiming he never heard the kind of inflammatory, and idiotic, statements that ooze from Wright like pus from a never-healing wound;

2) Distanced himself from his political mentor and financial backer, (and the guy who effectively bought the Obamas their house) the now-convicted Tony Rezko;

3) Distanced himself from his foreign policy advisers, one for meeting with Hamas, one for calling Hillary a monster;

4) Distanced himself from the man who threw his first fund raiser, and sat on boards with him, just because the public seems to be upset that the friend is an unrepentant terrorist (William Ayers);

5) Distanced himself from John Edwards;

6) Distanced himself from a military adviser over, again, statements which call into question Obama's commitment to Israel.

And now, Jesse Jackson.

How many more people will Obama jettison?

And, (rhetorical question): Will the media ever question Obama how these people came to be his friends and advisers in the first place?

In Their Own Words

Rhetorical Question--Am I Crazy?

All I am hearing from politicians running for office and a news media intent on scare, scare, scare, is that this is the worst economy ever, huge crisis, etc.

Anyone who says differently is shouted down as insensitive or stupid or crazy.

I know it's tough for some people out there-- no question. Some of it is cyclical, some of it is the fault of greedy businesspeople and incompetent, or worse, government officials. And some of it is our own fault.

In 1976 Jimmy Carter introduced the misery index,--add unemployment and inflation. (Many of us add to that interest rates for a more complete picture. For example, as bad as the "credit crisis" is being touted, when my wife and I purchased our home, money was so tight that, with perfect credit and 25% down, we had a choice of a 19% fixed rate mortgage or a 15 1/2% adjustable rate, a far cry from today's interest rates.)

Currently, inflation is at 5.4% (much of that being oil-related, which should now start to abate) and unemployment (before today's figures) is at 6.1%. See

That's a total of 11.5. Not good, I'll grant you.

But not the worst.

The highest the misery index reached at some point in recent Presidencies?

Truman: 13.63
Eisenhower: 10.98
Kennedy: 8.38
Johnson: 8.19
Nixon: 13.61
Ford: 19.9
Carter: 21.98
Reagan: 19.33
Bush I: 12.47
Clinton: 10.56

Today: 11.5

Now there are a lot of factors involved; some of those numbers were carry-overs from prior Administrations, some dealt with specific short-term crisis. Still, I offer these for perspective--simply perspective.

Everyone needs to calm down.

No matter how you look at it, these are NOT the worst of times. That doesn't make it any better for someone losing their home or job, I'll grant you. But the media and the election year hysterics are scaring people much more than they should--and with economics, that can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I just wish someone would come out and say that.

Approval Ratings

Once again, I found myself leaving as a comment something I probably should have posted here--so I will. At Capital Gains & Games, the question was asked why, if the polls say people overwhelmingly don't want this bailout plan, did Congress' approval rating drop after it failed to pass it?

My guess:

Approval ratings may be dropping, not because they didn't pass the plan, but rather because people once again focused on how inept, inane and incompetent these people are.

Whether you are for or against the plan, the failure of the Congress, and especially the leaders on both sides of the aisle to explain what they were doing and to count votes to avoid the embarrassment of losing the vote has to lower any "esteem" you may have for these people.

Add to it the partisan nonsense of the Speaker, the abject lying by members about their former positions on issues such as regulation and Fannie and Freddie, and the general ineptitude shown by the members who couldn't explain their vote or answer simple questions, and you have a recipe for a further deterioration of their approval rating.

Quite frankly, I see W's ratings in the 20's and Congress' in the teens and I have to ask this question--who would have thought the President and Congress had that many family members?