“I don’t think the Republicans or the Democrats really understand the level of anger at the sense of unfairness that the majority of people in the country feel,” [Matt Damon] said. – Damon: Public fury burns leading into election
MATT DAMON has criticized Pres. Obama over and over again for allowing Wall Street and too big to fail banks to skate. However, in a statement from the AP [h/t Politico], he made a statement that encapsulates what is said around here a lot.
Citing the Springsteen song “Jack of All Trades,” yet another Springsteen anthem to people like my husband, blue collar workers who keep food on the table and the bills paid, but forego a raise in hard times, one paycheck away from implosion.
Damon is a rich celebrity, but he gets it, as does Bruce Springsteen, while our politicians only seem to come on board and put skin in the game when their own career is in jeopardy. That certainly describes Pres. Obama, who hasn’t had a progressive economic message that resonates his entire first term. He basically sat out the 2010 elections, then extended the Bush tax cuts in December of that year, including for the wealthy, then when he could have made the argument for the middle class in Wisconsin, standing beside unions, the entire Democratic Party went AWOL, choosing a candidate that said “I’m not a union guy.” Neither are Democrats, unless they need them for elections, as they prepare to have their convention in right-to-work North Carolina.
So, Damon is correct in equally chastising Democrats and Republicans, the latter party even worse. The GOP bamboozle the working class through right-wing radio, but never deliver. At least there are Democrats like Sen. Sherrod Brown.
Is it any wonder that Gary Johnson is making inroads in some western states?
“I’d be shocked if (Mitt) Romney won. You know, I think Obama is the clear choice. But I’ve said before I’m really disappointed in him, and I am, particularly because of the banking stuff. He so misread that,” Damon said. “That sense of unfair – the sense that we don’t have a country anymore when people don’t feel like they have a chance, like it’s going to be fair. … If people feel like the deck is stacked against them, then they stop playing by the rules. Because why play by the rules? The game is fixed, right?”
Damon said both parties and the mainstream media haven’t paid enough attention to groups like the Tea Party and the Occupy movement.
[...] The star of the “Bourne” trilogy, known for speaking out about politics in the past, pointed to a Bruce Springsteen concert he attended several months ago at Madison Square Garden. Springsteen sang a song from his new album titled “Jack of All Trades,” which criticizes the gap between haves and have-nots and the greed of Wall Street bankers.
“He says: ‘If I had me a gun, I’d find the bastards and shoot them on sight.’ Now when he says that, when he’s saying that, the place roared. I mean, roared. Like 30,000 people involuntarily screamed their approval. And it was so alarming,” Damon said. “I went backstage after and saw him and it was the first thing he said to me. He’s singing to firemen and cops and real people. And the fury that’s there is very, very real.”
You know, I think Obama is the clear choice. But I’ve said before I’m really disappointed in him,
And there, perfectly encapsulated, is the failure of the “progressive” voter. i.e. “I’m going to tell you how disappointed I am in you, while I reassure you that you have my vote.” Nothing like giving away whatever miniscule power one might have had.
The failure also lies in the hands of the media for not telling the story of voter discontent, as Damon & Springsteen have done.
The media doesn’t give Gary Johnson, Rocky Anderson, or Jill Stein, any media time to let people know what’s percolating.
But since ratings drive what the networks cover, they literally feel they can’t afford to, because the vast majority of viewers would turn away if they did.
Educating and informing the voter is no longer seen as the media’s job.
agreed