Robert Scheer: President Obama and the Economy

Sure, Obama inherited an enormous mess from George W. who whistled "Dixie" while the banking system imploded, but now its time for Democrats to admit that their guy bears a considerable responsibility for not turning things around. He blindly followed President Bush's would-be remedy of throwing money at the banks, and getting nothing in return for beleaguered home -owners. Sadly, Obama has proved to be nothing more than a Bill Clinton clone triangulating with the Wall Street lobbyists at the expense of ordinary folks. That fatal arc of betrayal was captured by a headline in Tuesday's New York Times: Soaring Poverty Casts Spotlight on 'Lost Decade'. The Census Bureau reported that there are now 46.2 million Americans living below the official poverty line - the highest number in the 52 years since that statistic was first measured - and median household income has fallen back to the 1996 level. As Harvard economist Lawrence Katz summarized this dreary news: "This is truly a lost decade. We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we're looking at a period when the the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990's."