OUTRAGE, Outrage, outrage, oUtrAge, outragE, … etc., on and on, if you watched the Jon Stewart show the last couple nights you’d hear and see this in vivid technicolor emerging in captions from the many cable networks and network news shows.
Well, give me a break!
I agree with NYT Op-Ed columnist, Gail Collins, who said in her column today, Let’s complain about Barack Obama. Why doesn’t he sound angrier? Doesn’t he understand that his job right now is to be the Great Venter?
Sure he keeps saying he’s mad. But you can tell that he secretly thinks it’s crazy to obsess about $165 million in bonuses in a company that’s still got $1.6 trillion in toxic assets to unravel. “I don’t want to quell that anger. I want to channel our anger in a constructive way,” he said on Wednesday. Everybody knows constructively channeled anger doesn’t really count. It’s like diet pizza.
OK, where are the pitchforks and torches? If Congress, the Talk Show crazies, and the American People are really that angry, instead of just enjoying themselves spouting and fulminating, how come they aren’t taking to the streets like they do in some countries, and like they often did in this country back in the last century?
The sad result of all this overwrought outrage is that the friggin Republicans will be more likely to gain the political clout to block health care reform. “You’ve got to balance the budget, you tax and spender, Obama!”, they will scream all the louder. And the outraged American public may go along with this, thus yet again railing against its own best interests and preventing a much needed reform.
UPDATE: Joe Nocera has an even better piece than than Gail Collins’ above describing not only how overwrought this outrage is but how dangerous and distracting it is: The Problem With Flogging A.I.G.. There are real problems to be solved and the retention bonuses are negligible by comparison. C’mon Congress, let’s get back into the real world before it collapses!
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