Bush's America

The President went to a Rotary Club meeting at Yak-A-Doo's in the Holiday Inn in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and gave a speech boosting the economy.

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - President Bush worked to reassure Americans on Monday about the economy but said "there's definitely some storm clouds and concern" because of the nation's credit crunch and mortgage problems.

"But the underpinning is good," Bush told business and community leaders at a gathering of Rotary Club members.

Never been to Fredericksburg and don't know who belongs to the Rotary there, but if it's like the Rotary Clubs in most places, Bush was speaking to an audience made up of insurance agents, realtors, officers of the local banks, owners of car dealerships and local businesses, with maybe a few lawyers and doctors thrown into the mix.

What they are then are people who are having to deal right now with the very economic problems Bush was there to wave away:

"We've had a pretty good economic run," the president said in a speech intended to show he is aware of the public's edgy mood these days. Consumer confidence has eroded as turmoil in the housing and credit market have battered the economy.

Bush tried to position himself as an advocate for working families by taking aim at his favorite target: the Democratic Congress.

"The Congress cannot take economic vitality for granted," Bush said.

"The most negative thing Congress can do in the face of economic uncertainty is to raise taxes on the American people," Bush said.

The Rotarians weren't impressed.

The audience of roughly 80 people listened to Bush with respectful silence. Yet a line that normally gets him applause — "I'll veto any tax increase" — drew no reaction at all.

If the Rotarians are who I think they are, some are succeeding, more are struggling; plenty of them might be well enough off---"comfortable"---for now, and a few of them are probably rich, but not Rich rich.  They're the high end of the middle class and they know they are up there and know they will only stay there as long as all the lower levels of the middle class are doing ok enough to afford their services and shop at their stores and come to their offices for help and advice.  And they know this.   They aren't among the American people Bush was talking about, the people Bush wants to protect from any tax increases.

To Bush and his base, his real base, the American people are the Rich.  The rich Rich.  The multi-millionaires and the billionaires and their parasitical offspring who'd be ruined, just ruined, by any taxes on their princely inheritances.  The American royals.  They are the true Americans.  This is their country.

The rest of us just work here.

Comments

[Richard Welty]

The other things to be aware of is that Rotarians are big on humanitarian and community service, and proud of Rotary's involvement in the creation of the United Nations and involvement in the UN's ongoing operations.
(Yes, I am a member of the Albany NY Rotary Club.)

[merciless]

A couple of nights ago, I watched a History Channel program on the Black Death. It was overly dramatic, as those shows tend to be, but it pointed out that, even though the aristocracy did better survival-wise than the peasantry, afterward they did much worse. See, the remaining peasants could now afford to buy land and work for themselves, whereas the aristocracy couldn't find peasants to work their lands.

Those real-estate agents and developers and bank vice-presidents are much more aware of what's going on than the president has ever been. Hence the respectful silence, followed by a trip home and a large gin and tonic.

[joanr16]

I wondered about the makeup of that audience this morning, when I heard about the speech on NPR. It's getting harder and harder for Bush to find an audience prepared to applaud his every mangled syllable and empty "idea."

And the venue was really called "Yak-A-Doo's"? Hilarious!

[Richard Weltyl]

Rotary Summary: A Rotary audience will be polite, attentive and respectful to any invited speaker. Rotarians are generally decent, thoughtful people. Rotary as an organization works at not being political or religious. Business and social networking are part of the organization, but the real focus is on service, both locally and internationally. Rotary has put hundreds of millions of dollars into polio eradication over the past 20 years. My Rotary district is heavily involved in clean water projects in Central America. This is what Rotary is about.