Dakota Beacon

Sometime between Martin Luther King Day and Groundhog Day America is rescued from winter’s doldrums by the spectacle of the president’s State of the Union speech. This year’s presidential delivery was less a state of the union than it was a lecture to the fractious. It also included another distribution of goodies to “the people.”

President Obama doesn’t like the cards dealt to him of late, to wit: the election of Republican Scott Brown to fill Ted Kennedy’s old seat, the apparent collapse of health care legislation in congress, nagging high unemployment and low poll numbers. What’s a president to do?

Well, he can always apply P. T. Barnum’s dictum to Americans. “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

For its bold attempt at feigning populism, Obama’s discourse was riddled with cornpone and chutzpah. Huey Long couldn’t have done better himself. So, here we have Mr. Obama posing as Mr. Populist.

“Fakery” is the word that comes to mind in describing Obama’s efforts. For him, shifting into populist mode is more political style than substance. Woe to the gullible who swallows his pandering hook, line and sinker.

Simply put, populism characterizes anti-establishment sentiment. It focuses on grassroots democracy and egalitarianism. It extols the amorphous virtues of the “common man,” the “working class,” and the “underdog” in a romantic sort of way. One key point of populist thinking is skepticism about banks.

Attempting to corral populist sentiment, Mr. Obama framed his new strategy in his State of the Union oration. He correctly perceives that Americans are angry. He may not appreciate how angry they are with their government.

Obama believes he can channel American anger, with the help of congressmen and senators, by redirecting it against populism’s old nemeses including big business, insurance companies, Wall Street firms and banks -- especially banks. In reality, this is stirring up class warfare disguised as populism.

In his scolding he assaulted banks, bank profits and a recent Supreme Court decision. Then, he attempted to divide Americans by throwing sops to the “middle-class”: creation of a Middle Class Task Force, tax credits for moderate-income families who pay day care, child-care subsidies for low-income families, tax credits for retirement savings, easier repayment of student loans. The list goes on.

Some people he can string along. But his argument evaporates when he singles out banks selectively for punishment. Why not impose punitive taxes on athletes, Hollywood stars, high tech industries and officials of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

At last there is transparency. The foolishness of faux populism is on display, yet some people will fall for the illusion. Depleting bank reserves denies money to those who need it and want to better their lives. Banks exist as a conduit to pass cash from those who have excess cash to those who want or need cash. Without banks where will people turn? Government? And, where does government get money?

As usual, government perverts the process when it inserts itself as a micro-manager. Banks get diverted from their original intent. Our neighbors to the north do not have a banking crisis and Canadian banks did not require bailouts. Why? The Canadian parliament did not force Canadian banks into some quasi-populist sub-prime loan racket. They let capitalism function properly.

With Obama scapegoating the banks under his phony populist crusade, the only folks that will get hurt will be the middle class.

But, what if the people aren’t on board with the populist message? What if Dear Leader looks more like a chameleon than a champion? Let “the people” decide.

Americans aren’t stupid. Many folks can spot a phony a mile away. They’re skeptical of trading freedom for nanny state control of their lives.

For those few who truly believe the phony bologna rhetoric of populism that big is bad; that big business, big insurance and big pharmacy are bad; and that big banks are really bad, then Barack Obama’s their kind of guy. They’ll blindly support him together with the congress that marches in lockstep with him whatever the cost.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at P. O. Box 337, Stanley, ND 58784 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).