It is now the Year of Our Lord 2,010.
The series of disasters and catastrophes are country has faced in the past year is entirely predictable, in retrospect, given that the year began with Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson and ended with Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner.
Some good things are happening at the strategic level. Bush’s handling of the War on Terrorism has been so subtle and adept that it is hard to imagine a grand screw-up. And on education, Obama has taken the baton from President Bush, and pushed hard to give us a real education system, starting with taking as much decision-making authority as possible away from teachers, school districts, and states.
But with regards to economics… I’ll let our President’s European friends do the talking…
Today, his historic Health Reform is being passed through the American Senate – a welfare policy breakthrough that several of his predecessors have been unable to manage.
Obama’s greatest accomplishment so far has been his “breakthrough” push to expand the Welfare State. With regards to finance, he appointed traitors such as Tim Geithner to high positions. Ben Bernanke will keep his job. The looting of America by the Oligarchs will continue — indeed, it’s accelerating.
No one can seriously believe that the actions of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein have been less harmful to our country than, say, Julian Rosenberg. No one can believe that Henry Paulson is any more loyal to the country over his secret connections than, say, Aldrich Ames. No one can believe that Tim Geithner is any more honest and capable an official than Aaron Burr.
No one can see a reasonable way out of this situation. As wonderful as Obama ordering the military detention of Geithner would be, that line of thinking is likely to be as productive as the “right bomb in the right place” terrorism that V.I. Lenin dismissed.
America will have a chance to be great. Bush’s foreign policy success, along with the joint Bush-Obama education push, and the wealth we are now spending through will give us this chance. But it’s hard to see how we’re on a glidepath for anything other than an negotiated surrender to the hosts of history.
