The New JibJab-- Do They Like Obama?

True, the Republican Party is now even less popular than Dick Cheney (who is himself less popular than Paris Hilton)... but it's close 26% of people think well of Cheney; only 25% think well of the Republicans. I guess that obstructionist things isn't going over the way they thought it would. It didn't work too well against FDR either.

But is Obama another FDR? His policies never seem bold enough; they don't seem to be coming from that Hope guy from the campaign. They seem to be coming from that grubby political whore he hired as chief of staff. The regulatory "reforms" fell so far short, that Phil Gramm must have been applauding in his political grave. As the Washington Post's business columnist asked earlier, "What does it tell you when banks, investment houses, insurance companies and derivatives traders are so pleased with their regulators that they are prepared to pull out all the stops to keep them?" His answer was as incisive as his question: "What it tells me is that the current system of financial regulation has been thoroughly captured by the companies it was meant to restrain -- and that the only way to put things right is to bring in new rules, a new structure and tough new regulators. Anything short of that, and you can almost guarantee that the inmates will be back in charge of the asylum by the time the next bubble starts to develop. Judged by that standard, the proposals the Obama administration put forward this week to reform the regulatory apparatus were a bit of a disappointment."

Just as bad-- or worse-- is the apparent lack of leadership on health care reform. He certainly knows what a bunch of conflicted shills his old colleagues in the Senate are when it comes to the high-spending Medical-Industrial Complex and Insurance Giants. And Obama told them to work out the details. Max Baucus? Ben Nelson? Joe Lieberman? Arlen Specter? Blanche Lincoln? They're going to work out the details? Senators who have been on the corporate tit for decades? And I haven't even mentioned the Republican obstructionists-- their allies-- yet. This battle will be Obama's crucible. We come out of it with health care reform and he's fine. Without it, it's all over... after just 6 months that held so much promise. I'm rooting for him. So is Robert Reich, who, like me, thinks he better not keep his powder dry when it comes to health care reform.