Black Diaspora

I watched President Obama give his first speech (talk) to Congress since becoming president. Now we all know that the talk really targeted the American people, not just Congress, including Congressional Republicans who had to listen along--like it or not.

We all knew that the Republicans were going to play the chair game, sit when the Democrats were standing, and stand when the Democrats were sitting. I can count at least one instance when both sides of the aisle actually stood together, probably the only bipartisan moment since the beginning of Obama's administration.

In recent days we've heard a lot about how deep our economic problems run. We're told that economists and the government haven't really been completely honest about how big the problem actually is.

It's a lot like the person who borrowed your car calling and telling you he's been involved in a fender bender, when in fact your car has been totaled.

We can't know just how much money it's going to take to fix the economy, if we don't know just how much damage the economy has sustained.

A few months down the road we should have a pretty good inkling of whether we'll need a whole new economy, or if we can put new tires on the old one, give it a tuneup, and repair a few nicks here and there.

We may find that we'll have to overhaul the whole damn thing, or roll out a new one altogether.

Governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal(R) of Louisiana, giving the Republican party's rebuttal, seems to think that all the economy needs is another mechanic, the one that we hired to work on the economy is using the wrong principles, the wrong methodology.

After tonight's performance, if Republicans think that Governor Jindal is going to be that rising star to eclipse the Obama sun, then they need to consult another fortune teller. But they may have to wait in line: fortune tellers are now in great demand what with this recessionary economy.

Here's the Grand Obstructionist Party's position:

"To hell with a Stimulus bill designed to put Americans to work.

"Let our old jalopy of an economy run idle for a while. That's the self-correcting thing to to.

"Even without a mechanic, our sputtering economy will be up and running before you know it."

The Republican party's prescription for repairing the economy that they're largely responsible for wrecking, is to cut taxes, cut taxes, and cut more taxes.

They forget that three Trillion dollars of tax cuts to date haven't as yet done the trick. Maybe, just maybe, a combination of tax cuts, and targeted spending, will do what tax cuts alone haven't.

As Byron Williams has observed in his name prescient article entitled, No Time for Ideological Based Economic Solutions, posted December 10, 2008 05:34 PM (EST):

We the people should have little tolerance for any elected official, regardless of party, who stands on ideological grounds. Such thinking robs one of the ability to work with someone who may see the world differently.

Truth is, the only logical answer that anyone has a firm grasp, as it relates to this economy, is "I don't know."

The last time I heard a politician imply the words, "I don't know," and say, instead, "I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you," was Sarah Palin, as Katie Couric pressed her in an interview to provide examples of where John McCain pushed for more regulations.

The sad truth, she didn't know, and, as we were to painfully learn later--there were a lot of things that Sarah Palin didn't know.