Barack Obama has released a new two minute commercial in which he looks seriously at the camera and drones on about how he’ll provide serious leadership for our serious financial crisis. The heart of the ad refers the viewer to his Plan, helpfully posted at his website. Given the Plan’s utter vacuity, I assume the Obama campaign figured no one would actually click on it. The Plan makes twelve promises – none of them have anything to do with Wall Street, investment banking or the general financial crisis. Instead, the much vaunted Plan just offers the chewed Wonder Bread of previous Obama plans like “enact(ing) a windfall profits tax on excessive oil company profits to give American families an immediate $1,000 emergency energy rebate to help families pay rising bills.” Hey, if President Obama’s going to give me $1,000, I won’t complain. I bet I’ll even be able to spend the money on something fun like a new hi-def TV rather than my rising bills. But the Plan, like virtually everything that spins out of the Hope/Change vortex, lacks seriousness. I especially liked Obama’s pledge to “create 5 million green jobs.” That’s just the kind of hard-headed realism we need during challenging times like these! Since Obama is promising the ridiculous, I think he should go all the way. Why not just pledge to issue every American family a unicorn as a household pet? Nothing helps you through troubled times like the love of a faithful unicorn. Reading the Obama Plan, which his serious commercial treats as a serious blueprint, it becomes painfully obvious that Barack Obama has nothing constructive to say about this week’s events. But maybe I’m jumping the gun. Perhaps his campaign will complete its polling and Obama will soon know whether he approves or disapproves of the AIG bailout.
