Digging out of the rubble, instantly

President Obama has told us he will be truthful with us -- and apparently, when it comes to the economy, that's not change we want to believe in. Remember, T.S. Eliot told us that "Humankind cannot stand very much reality" and so did Jack Nicholson. After thirty years of being told we could have something for nothing, and could have it NOW!, we don't want to hear that we can't...and never really could.

Bill Clinton says Obama should be doing more cheerleading on the economy. (Compare and contrast John McCain, jerking around his pom-poms while telling us the "fundamentals are sound." ) And vying for the title of cable news' #1 Neanderthal -- see Chris Matthews, below -- Lou Dobbs calls Obama a fearmonger.

Does a tornedo spinning toward a house on the desolate plain monger fear? Or does it signal an event, indeed a frightening one, that one would be wise to acknowledge?

By not minimizing the peril we're in, Obama has become a whipping boy. The stock market's ongoing slide is his fault. What is with that?

During the campaign and since, Obama has told us that he'd keep working to find solutions to our pressing problems -- of which he gives full evidence of having a secure grasp -- and that if one thing didn't work, he'd try something else. I heard him say that. But I guess the Villagers didn't. They're yelping that he hasn't fixed things yet! Gee, he's already been in the White House for a month -- whaddya mean, the market hasn't gone all bullish? (Couldn't have anything to do with the deafening naysaying of the wingnuts, could it? Doesn't seem to occur to them.)

Chris Matthews has even suggested that Obama looks as though he doesn't know what he's doing because he's setting up study panels. Matthews suggests that Obama would inspire more confidence (in whom? in the instant-gratification gnomes of Wall Street?) if he went into hiding somewhere and studied these things for himself. Yup, he actually said that, just now on Hardball. Yup. Chris, you might consider spending some time to learn a thing or two yourself. At the least, how not to foam at the mouth as you spew your incoherence on the rest of us.

Back to that tornado. It had been growing and growing, part of a massive storm system heading our way for a long time. Why did nobody warn us, at the very least give us time to get to the storm cellar? When the funnel finally touched down it took only a moment to reduce our house to rubble.

Where oh where were the weathermen? Lou? Chris?

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Update: Nate Silver says

One of the more unapologetically idiotic notions being advanced by certain conservative commentators is the idea that the poor performance of the stock markets represents a negative reaction to Barack Obama's stimulus package.

I love his title: "Sun rises, market falls" --