The Kitchen Curtain Analogy

A lot of progressives are very unhappy that President Obama has capitulated to the Republicans and agreed to give the richest Americans a new tax break (the cut in estate taxes) and allowed these same rich Americans to keep their massive income tax cuts for another two years -- not to mention that he's cutting the amount of money going into social security also.   And all he gets in return is a measly 13 month extension of unemployment benefits.

These progressives, myself included, think this was not just a bad deal but a broken campaign promise -- and a return to Bush economic policies.   But some Democrats are unhappy with the reaction of many of us on the left.   They want us to remember all the wonderful things the president has accomplished, and I admit, he has accomplished some good things.   But most of the big things, the things he campaigned on, have not been accomplished (or have been so watered down as to be considered a failure).

The excellent progressive blogger Jolly Roger at Reconstitution 2.0 has come up with a great analogy for what is happening.   Here it is:


Let’s say that the President has his eye on a house with a horrible kitchen. The floorboards are rotting, and the while damn thing isn’t too far from caving in. Before signing the purchase agreement, the President tells Michelle and the kids that the rotten kitchen floor is going to be the first thing he works on. Based on this assurance, Michelle and the kids agree to go along with buying the house.


So the President signs the purchase agreement, and the family moves into the house. Here it is 2 years later, and Michelle is now scared to death to even walk across the damn floor because every time that she does, another piece of it caves in. The kids don’t dare have any friends over because they’re scared to death one of their little friends will fall through the floor and get hurt. Michelle, in utter exasperation with the President’s inaction on the kitchen floor, finally asks him in exasperation when in the HELL he’s going to get the damn floor fixed.


“DON’T YOU GET ALL SANCTIMONIOUS ON ME!!!,” the President intones. “LOOK AT THOSE NEW CURTAINS I WENT OUT AND BOUGHT!!! I KNOW THAT THE KITCHEN ISN’T PERFECT, BUT DAMMIT, JUST LOOK AT WHAT I’VE DONE!!! YOU’LL JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH WANKING ACROSS THE PLYWOOD OVER THE FLOORBOARDS FOR ANOTHER COUPLE OF YEARS!!! THE DAMN CONTRACTORS AREN’T DOING WHAT I WANTED THEM TO DO!!!”


Our country is that kitchen floor, and collapse is imminent. When the collapse finally happens, the pretty new curtains aren’t going to mean a damn thing to anyone.


I freely admit that some good things have been done since Obama took office -- he's bought some damn nice curtains and they look real good.   But he wasn't elected to buy new curtains.   He promised to fix the rotten floor, but every rotten floorboard is still waiting to be replaced.   He promised real change, but has been unwilling to fight for that.   And now that the Republicans are taking over in the House, it looks like we'll have to go another two years with that same rotten floor.

This latest capitulation will not help the country to climb out of the recession, no matter what the Republicans or the president say.   It will just make things worse for most Americans (except the rich -- who are laughing all the way to the bank).   It looks like that kitchen floor will have to completely collapse before anything is done about it.