Just do something

Just do something

by digby

Not that anyone cares what we think, but this seems meaningful to me. From the new Pew Poll:

Changing Economic Priorities. As many Americans (47%) place a higher priority on spending to help the economy recover as on reducing the budget deficit (46%). In June, 52% said reducing the deficit was the higher priority while 42% said spending to help the economy recover was the higher priority.

Disgruntled Democrats. Currently, 61% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say their party is doing only a fair or poor job of standing up for its traditional positions, such as protecting the interests of minorities and helping the poor. Last fall, shortly after the midterm election, 50% said the party was doing only a fair or poor job in supporting the party’s traditional positions.

I think it’s fairly amazing that in an environment where there is absolutely no public discussion about government spending to help the economy recover that more and more people are demanding just that. It’s a tribute to the common sense of many Americans that they are able to see past the mountains of horseshit that’s being piled on daily and come to the obvious conclusion: people are hurting and it’s their government’s job, its raison d’etre, to use the tools at its disposal to try to fix the problem. Apparently it has not escaped the notice of half of Americans that this mumbo jumbo about the deficit and “confidence” and the rest isn’t addressing their concerns.

Moreover, and perhaps more interesting, is the fact that self-identified Democrats are finally waking up to the fact that their leaders aren’t acting like Democrats. After all, if you don’t believe in marshaling government power to mitigate the pain of average citizens in a time of crisis, then you should probably be in the other party.

I actually feel rather uplifted by this. If this much of the public can figure this out without anyone’s help, perhaps there’s some hope they can make the politicians listen.

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