Wall Street Bailout is Barack Obama's Best Issue

Barack Obama was having a tough time in forcing the campaign to focus on real issues, but "the bailout" has bailed him out on that problem.

The $700 billion that taxpayers will pay to save Wall Street allows Obama, the most politically liberal candidate since Lyndon Johnson, to also focus on Main Street.

Obama can't quite say it this way, for being at risk of being labeled a Robin Hood in a selfish society, but on the bottom line he wants the "haves" to share with the "have nots." He advocates health care for everyone, for example, and he would establish the tantamount to a government jobs program for everyone. Lyndon Johnson? How about Franklin Roosevelt in terms of being liberal -- or as the liberals now call themselves, progressive.

The Wall Street bailout, sadly enough, removes $700 billion from an already sparse table for doing more for the poor. It pushes the national debt up to $11 billion, or about $37,000 for every man, woman and child in America.

But as noted on a San Francisco Chronicle website, beyondchron.org, the conservatives who oppose domestic spending can hardly brand Obama as "tax and spend" while their Wall Street business buddies are getting bailed out. They no longer are in a position to brand Obama as a budget buster, now that they are busting the budget themselves.

Everyday people need not understand the workings of "mortgage-backed securities" or even "deleveraging" to perceive along with Barack Obama, that the reach of government goes far beyond welfare or Social Security. The government controls the entire economy, and in fact spending for the "have nots" constitutes only a small fraction of the federal budget. A lion's share goes to middle-class entitlements. And now for Wall Street? Welfare for the rich. Obama has his issue. Obama has his platform.

Obama has advocated a federal expense of $150 billion, over a 10-year span, for alternative energy. Foes have said this is an example of big spending, big government. But now we have a Wall Street bailout that will cost nearly five times as much. How can the Obama critics continue to crow?

"The media frames Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as an 'independent' oracle of financial truths," states beyondchron.org. "He made hundreds of millions of dollars at Goldman, Sachs from deregulation, and will be going back to Wall Street in a few short months. Why should Paulson be viewed as anything other than a lobbyist for Wall Street?" Ditto for all Republicans.

In the process, Barack Obama can cast himself as a lobbyist for everyday Americans. If money can be found for Wall Street, why not for health care and why not for a jobs program? The Wall Street bailout fell into his lap at exactly the right time.

SOURCES

www.beyondchron.com