In fact, I've really only given praise here to ONE Senator - Sen Brown of Ohio who stood there trying to convince his fellow Senators that people are hurting in ways they can't understand. (See yesterday's video roundup.) Although, I should be clear in that I have also been impressed by Sen. Stabenow of Michigan who's also as outraged about the failure of the unemployment extension. But as a whole, I'm really not impressed with the democrats in the senate EITHER.
Let's start with Majority Leader Sen. Reid (D - Nevada). Recent reports state that Nevada now has the highest unemployment in the country. Instead of forcing the filibuster and threatening to camp out and put the debates live on C-Span, Reid pretty much admitted defeat on Thursday. Sen. Reid, grow a pair, you're supposed to be the senate majority leader, stop letting the others bully you on the playground.
Reid, just like the Republicans who voted against the bill, is trying to build a campaign strategy this fall by letting the unemployed suffer. Reid, you're running against someone who's repeatedly talked about using "second amendment rights" to take back the government if she loses the election. Can't you build your campaign strategy out of that and your own record?
Likewise, I don't understand why more Senators other than Brown and Stabenow aren't screaming bloody murder over the loss of benefits of 1.2 million Americans. Seriously, 1.2 MILLION, that's 1.2 million families that can't pay the rent or mortgage, can't buy food, and have to figure out how to live. Why aren't more of you overpaid windbags mad as hell about this? Why are you not demanding that Senate stay in session until an unemployment extension is passed? Are you really going to go off on vacation and leave 1.2 million people hanging out to dry? Shame on you.
I'm not a member of the "blame Obama" camp, as I don't think everything that goes wrong in this country is automatically Obama's fault (or was automatically Bush's fault) but the fact that my President personally addressed the nation about this is a huge problem. I get there's a lot going on right now with that Afghanastan change of command and the massive amount of oil spilling into the gulf, but 1.2 million people losing unemployment benefits is as much of an emergency as the oil in the gulf. No, I am not comforted by the financial reform bill when people are starving TODAY. Not that I'm knocking financial reform, I think it's very necessary but it's akin to focusing on buying fire insurance while your house is burning down and your dog is trapped inside. Get the pets out, get the fire out then you can worry about what happens when you rebuilt.
What we need now as a FDR, someone to sit down in fireside chats with us and tell us that "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Someone to come out on the side of the people who've been hurt most by the actions of others. We voted for hope, Mr. President, throw us a bone and give us a reason to be hopeful. Financial and health care reform give little hope when people are losing their homes and can't buy food. The stimulus package was a good start but so much more needs to be done. Where is our WPA? Where is our New Deal?
Unemployment is not a political issue. I can not stress this enough. This is not a left/right issue, not a democratic/republican issue. This is a humanitarian issue, a societal issue. This is an emergency. Do the right thing. Pass an extension, pass it now.
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