A President or a Movement….

Take a look at this great blog posted by Mark Karlin, the editor and publisher of BuzzFlash.com:

“The Myth of Ronald Reagan Lured the Working Class Into Economic Destruction: Obama Gets It, But the Jilted Middle Class Doesn’t.”

Some excerpts…

…Ronald Reagan made many working class and rural voters proud to be Americans again, but meanwhile, behind the scenes, corporate lobbyists and Reagan’s aides (who were really running the show) went about dismantling factories in places like central Pennsylvania and moving them overseas, sometimes — literally — in the dark of night.

It was the Republican version of “Let them eat cake.” Only, in this case, it was: “Let them eat God, Guns, and Patriotism.”

….I was always surprised by how little connection Reagan appeared as an adult to have with home state. During his presidency, he rarely returned here, and his persona was tied to the myth of the cowboy, the triumphant rugged conqueror of the West. Illinois was just part of his early biography. He seemed to have no strong emotional attachment to the very Midwest roots that he so championed. It just didn’t fit in with the mythic figure that came out of his films, Western ranch (which was the inspiration for Rove getting Bush to buy his Crawford spread and do a Reagan “cut the brush” imitation), and heroic GI movie roles during WW II (which he never actually fought in.)

I’ll take it one step further, that in addition to Reagan being a mythical cowboy fraud, the man was a criminal that should have spent time behind bars. When you subvert the Constitution to do an end around Congress as the President of the United States, you should spend a long time behind bars. That’s exactly what Reagan did and this country has only exalted him for it instead of punishing him.

We can have our differences over which political candidate’s policies offer the best hope for America but I think that it is becoming clear that Barack Obama, from the perspective of the Left, offers a vision of what it would mean for this country to move that way.

Reagan went from a “B” movie career to an “A” career as a political salesman for corporate wealth and control of the government. In the turbulent social climate of the ’60s, his wealthy backers (who regarded him as a prize race horse for a right-wing coup for the super rich and corporate welfare) watched as Reagan won the governorship and masterfully was guided in the use of wedge issues such as “Guns and God” to lure the emerging displaced middle class into voting Republican….

In contrast, what’s remarkable about Obama’s methods is that he doesn’t make it ideological, his rhetoric is notably practical, much like Reagan’s, except without all the messy manipulation. You know, the truth he’s now dishing that’s getting him into trouble?!? Many voters want to go one believing that there must be some other reason for the way they feel (I don’t know, “bitter” perhaps?) And while Reagan had his Soviet and liberal scapegoats and welfare queens driving Cadillacs, and Clinton has her “plans,” Obama seems to be the 1st candidate to come around in a long time that is capable of moving this country in the reverse direction to the Right shift of the “Reagan Revolution.”

Obama shouldn’t be so concerned that his political honesty and albeit at times, clumsy rhetoric, is alienating voters, he should be wary of the free-marketeers and conservatives who have been getting a free ride on the backs of the taxpayers through massive corporate welfare programs - the true “Reagan Revolution.” If they come to understand just how dangerous a figure he could become to their way of exploitation, he may just become a liability to them and warrant “liquidation” (surely just a business term).

Obama’s presidency could be a foundational event, a long awaited wholesale movement of voters to the Left in this country. This eventually could mean that families finally get social and financial relief and actualize the promise of equality of opportunity that far too long America has pretended that it provides.

If the cold front of a Clinton candidacy doesn’t stop Obama first, his election could portend the beginning of a perfect storm capable of washing away much of the present political atmosphere of conservative harshness that has existed for so long and it could usher in a left-leaning twilight era of American politics.

On the other hand there always John McCain.