[digg-reddit-me]Yesterday, I tried to take on some of the opposition to Obama’s handling of the financial crisis. I think I did a fine job – but I’m certainly no Jon Stewart. Pointing out that the stock market tanked after Ronald Reagan became president and after we won World War II, he takes on this farcical idea that the stock market is some sort of rational indicator of economic conditions:

(I’ll post full links when TDS posts them.)

The stock market isn’t a rational creature – it is subject to panics and irrational exuberance and sour moods and churlishness and massive misjudgments. To judge whether an economic plan is working or not requires time and wisdom – neither of which are found in the daily results of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Of course, Stewart founds some time to mock Rick Santelli on the way:

Humor makes it all go down so much easier.

There’s no denying the inchoate anger, not fully formed, matured, directed, or realized, that some seek to target Obama with. The problem is that these Santellis and these Limbaughs and the rest of them have no more to offer than the mythical Howard Beale of Network – whose famous rants clearly inspired Santelli’s on-air persona:



Watching this famous clip today is eerie – as it echoes into our own time – and makes Santelli’s performance seem all the more post-modern.

In the end, it comes down to this:

As a nation we have a choice to do nothing, to let Obama implement his plan, or to come up with a better one. In my opinion, Obama’s opponents have yet to offer a serious alternate plan. Which is why I’m sticking with him on this, at least for now.

A note on the clips: These clips have been taken from an episode of the television show The Daily Show originally airing on March 4, 2009. It is believed that this short clip qualifies as Fair Use under United States copyright law.

The Copyright Act of 1976 states:

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

Please be advised that Courts have held that copyright holders cannot order the deletion of an online file without determining whether that posting reflected “fair use” of the copyrighted material. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use).

These clips use falls well within the parameters of Fair Use. They represent a comment by the producers on contemporary political and legal issues, specifically as related to the financial crisis and related political issues.

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