A lot of politicians have said a lot of irresponsible things over the years, but as we get closer to the 2012 election, the pols are really starting to get their knickers in a twist. This time it was former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani saying that Pres. Obama is responsible for the Occupy Wall Street movement because of his economic policy.
“It would not have happened but for his class warfare,” Giuliani said in Washington on Friday. He went on to explain that Obama’s apparent need to “redistribute the wealth” is closely aligned with the OWS movement. A cheap shot. Oversimplification. Partisan politics.
Irresponsible hyperbole from the nation’s leading politicians will only fan the flames of unrest and discontent and make it that much more difficult to work together to find solutions. Driving the wedges even deeper is irresponsible and counterproductive.
It disappoints and angers me to see Giuliani jumping into the political gutter with everyone else. Or maybe he was already there and I just hadn’t realized it before.
I agree, Pied.
My entry into political and economic blogging in March, 2010 caused me to study issues more than I ever had before, and I now find myself comparing the various opinions with other data in my head. Sometimes, just as you highlight here, I find the political opining starkly at odds with the facts. Giuliani’s assertion is absurd, and depressing.
Another pundit I used to respect is George Will. Maybe I was too impressed with his vocabulary, but he too often swings wildly into demagoguery from time to time. There aren’t many left who try to be moderate or to deviate from terse talking points. David Gergen is about the only name that comes to me at the moment, and I haven’t heard from him for some time. He’s probably drowning his sorrows in a bar somewhere, despondent and hopeless.
Oh, just thought of one more – Michael Blumberg. Usually he’s pretty sane. OMG, I hope there are more than two.
Demagoguery. That’s the word I wanted. It does nothing but inflame and/or mislead people. Sometimes I feel there’s no one left willing to sit down and speak reasonably and thoughtfully about difficult issues. And I don’t know any other way to solve problems. If you and I disagree on an issue, I’m willing to discuss it as long as you speak and act like a adult and don’t resort to name-calling and hissy fits.
Bloomberg? Yes, I’ve liked what I’ve seen of him. He seems pretty level-headed, but then, unlike most politicians and media commentators, he has a business or two to run. Attacking the other guy with wild accusations is not the way to conduct business. That’s the problem with the politicians; they’ve forgotten their job is to run a business, be it a city, state, or country.
And there goes the last vestige of respect that I had for Rudy Giuliani.
Yep. “Et tu, Rudy?” was my first thought.