Political Verse

“It’s the Economy, Stupid!”
by Dee Newman

One year to the day that President
Obama was inaugurated,
Becoming the first black resident
Of the White House, a frustrated

And angry electorate voted
(In liberal Massachusetts) for Scott
Brown, a conservative, who’s been quoted
Asserting that waterboarding is not

Torture . . . it is merely “an aggressive,
Enhanced interrogation technique.”
One reason Brown won – progressive
Voters stayed home. Their negative critique

Of the Obama administration’s
Failure to accomplish their naïve
And unrealistic expectations
Of what the Dems in Congress could achieve,

Allowed them to abandon reason.
Whenever ideology alters
Reality, we often enter a season
Of despair that allows the assaulters

Of the truth, to ultimately prevail,
As the demagogues and the profiteers,
The xenophobes and bigots assail,
Exploiting the prejudices and fears

Of the gathering and angry mobs
Who have valid reasons to be afraid
Of losing both their homes and their jobs
As they watch their savings further degrade.

Believe me, as the times get tougher
For the average family to survive,
As we toil, struggle, and suffer
While the politically connected thrive,

Fairly or unfairly, it is always the same,
When the economy’s health is in doubt
The party in power receives the blame
And the voters will “turn the rascals out.”

As long as we continue to remunerate
The very people who caused the worst
Financial fall and failure since the Great
Depression’s economic bubble burst,

As long as income and wealth persist
To concentrate at the top, I contend,
Economic disparity will exist
And this Great Recession will not end.