So, White House political maestro Karl Rove thinks he has the American people all figured out. Citizens are in a “sour time,” he says, because of the war in Iraq. “Being in the middle of a war where people turn on their television sets and see men and women dying is not something that makes people happy and optimistic and upbeat,” he said.
Indeed.
Known for his mastery of politics – Bush called him the architect of his 2004 re-election – Rove is assuring Republicans that they will be “fine” come November.
That may or may not be, but to say Americans are “sour” simply because of the Iraq war is a foolish miscalculation. As any of his neighbors could tell him, Americans have plenty more to be sour about. We wonder if Rove is truly unaware of them:
Runaway federal spending and a stratospheric national deficit are giving both conservative and liberal voters panic attacks. President Bush hasn’t cast a single veto during five years in office – and the Republican Congress has replaced the old Democratic tax-and-spend theology with a spend-and-spend alternative.
The one thing they have managed to cut, student financial aid, affects millions of low- to middle-income families.
Gas is approaching $3 a gallon, just in time for summer vacations. Politicians have scrambled for a quick fix, but it’s become increasingly apparent that even after finally passing an energy bill last year, the U.S. doesn’t have a workable energy policy.
We have one of the world’s most advanced health care systems, but affordable access to it is limited to the fortunate. Some 45 million Americans go without health insurance every year, including folks who work very hard for a living.
Illegal immigrants have been streaming across the Mexican border unchecked for years, taxing hospitals and public services, yet Washington has turned a blind eye. Even after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Bush left the back door wide open.
Then, when some attention is mercifully drawn to the issue, the president slaps together a National Guard border-patrol plan that seems to offend everyone. (Don’t look now, but a few more roofers just sneaked into the country.)
Privacy rights and civil liberties are eroding. The National Security Agency is listening in on phone calls and reading your e-mails, and amassing a huge database of all the calls made from within this country.
And still, no Osama bin Laden.
Never mind Medicare.
Yes, “sour” captures the current mood of America, but it’s not only Iraq.
