Posted by
Michael Goodell on Tuesday, February 24, 2009 4:06:35 PM
Back before he booked passage on an express train back to the Fourteenth Century, Cat Stevens wrote a song called “Wild World,” which contained the lyrics, “Oh baby, baby it’s a wild world, it’s hard to get by just upon a smile.”
These words keep rattling around in my head while I read the daily news. Our nation is mired in a severe economic downturn. It may be the worst recession since 1981. It may be the worst recession since 1973. Surprisingly, there are many, and many in Washington today, who ardently hope these are the worst times since the Great Depression.
It is curious to say the least to think that some people who ostensibly have the American people’s interests at heart should pine for the days when nearly one in four Americans couldn’t find a job, when men would abandon their families to wander the roads in search of a few grains of sustenance. But then again, as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is fond of saying, “Never let a crisis go to waste.”
Fresh from their success with the “Stimulus Package,” the 1,100 page paradigm shift which passed unread, there are those who seek to reshape the way we live and breathe as Americans. By shifting the center leftwards, they seek to institutionalize the greatest growth in the reach and role of government in American history.
Regardless of the merits of such a campaign, the single-minded focus on domestic concerns ignores the certain reality that we are living in a dangerous world. While we spend time debating bailouts and tax increases, those who were plotting to kill Americans when George W. Bush was President continue to plot to kill Americans today. Those who sought to undercut American authority, influence and power under Bush continue to do so today. In fact, they are doing so at an ever-increasing rate.
Barack Obama’s offer to extend an open hand of peace seems to have been met with the mailed fist of hostility. Russia is busy calving off the components of its former empire, militarizing Ossetia and Abkhazia, intimidating Ukraine, buying off Kyrgystan, and shaking the faith of former Warsaw Pact nations in the reliability of their western allies. Iran is moving ahead with nuclear weapons development and thumbing their nose at American overtures. North Korea is test launching missiles capable of striking the United States. Pakistan is surrendering to the Taliban. As for China, they are being very, very quiet, which is the most frightening development of all.
President Obama is new to the job, and he has a lot on his plate right now. We can only hope that someone is keeping his or her eye on the big picture, and reminding him that, “Oh baby ,baby, it’s a wild world. It’s hard to get by just upon a smile.”
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