On July 26, 2012 Karl Rove published in the Wall Street
Journal a piece he calls: “Obama and the Economic Blame Game” which also has
the subtitle: “In a new poll, the public fingers the president.” Rove quotes a
large number of figures none of which I dispute since I can neither prove nor
disprove any of them. But what surprises me about the article is the fact that
those numbers clash mightily with Rove's interpretation of them. In fact, as I
went through the numbers, I wondered why he chose the title that he did, and
why he allowed the subtitle to remain as it is.
The first thing that the author does is hit the reader with
a powerful opinion: “...bad news for … Obama's attempts to blame someone … for America 's economic
problems.” Well, I always thought that an economy is driven by market forces.
If you want to know why your economy behaves the way that it does, you identify
the forces acting on it, and see if there is something you can do -- using the
fiscal, monetary and other tools available to you -- to alter the composition
of those forces. This said, I have not heard a thing coming out of the current
administration which says that the president or anyone in it did anything but
work on those forces the best way they could.
Still, Rove writes that a newspaper called the Hill released
a pole which says “66% of the voters believe the weak economy is Washington 's fault.” The
fact that the word “voter” is used here makes you wonder who chose it in this
politically charged atmosphere. Was it the newspaper or Rove? No matter; let's
move on. Rove then asks this question: “And who is most to blame?” He answers:
“34% said Mr. Obama. Congress was named the culprit by 23%, while 20% chose
Wall Street and 18% fingered former President George W. Bush.” And so, Rove
concludes that: “Mr. Obama's obsessive campaign to blame his predecessor is
failing.”
Given that I never heard a thing coming out of the current
administration to indicate that Mr. Obama is doing anything more than identify
the forces affecting the course of the economy, I must conclude that Mr. Rove
who was a big player in the previous administration is trying to whitewash the
true history of the economic calamity which hit America and the world during
the tenure of that administration. Thus, the only obsession I see here is that
of Karl Rove and all those of his political ilk who wish to see someone take
the blame for not doing enough to clean up a mess so massive, only the passage
of time can clean it up. But get this, my friend -- altering time is a
scientific achievement that has not yet been realized. Whether or not Obama can
walk on water, the one thing he cannot do is compress time. Maybe Karl has some
suggestions in this regard.
But that does not seem to interest our esteemed author
because he goes on to thrust on the reader another powerful opinion before
justifying it with a number. Here is the opinion: “The public … believes the
buck stops with the current occupant of the Oval Office.” And here is the justification:
“53% said Mr. 'Obama has taken the wrong actions and slowed the recovery
down.'” Well, what the “public” is saying here is that in retrospect, the
President could perhaps have done a little better despite the gravity of the
situation he inherited from the Bush/Rove administration. But nobody is perfect
so what the heck, we will not crucify someone; not even Karl.
But having gone through all this trouble to deny that Obama
inherited a mess, the author of the article now embarks on a massive attempt to
explain that the non-existent mess was Obama's fault anyway because he was a
Senator in a Democratic administration when it all started. And so he admits
that there was a subprime debacle which started the ball rolling and the mess
to shape itself -- but that was their fault not ours, he says. Well, well! How
these politicians cum journalists never cease to amaze me with the power they
have to do themselves in as they try to have it both ways.
But I am not going to challenge Karl Rove on this history because
I know little to nothing about it. What I know, however, is another history I
would like to tell.
When I came from Quebec to
resettle in Ontario
toward the end of 1997, I started a business called Viago Printing and Office
Supplies. While running it, I also launched a small local newspaper. Needless
to say the load was heavy on me, and I relied on family and friends to help me
carry it because my financial resources were limited, and I did not hire enough
people to help.
Still, I could have done well but for the fact that three
serious illnesses hit me one after the other, and they eventually required that
I undergo three serious operations. I had to wind down the business -- which I
did in 2002 without declaring bankruptcy -- having paid my creditors everything
I owed them. I then sold the inventory that was left to my competitor who
eventually became a friend I checked with once in a while.
I got busy doing other things and taking care of my health
when one day I received a phone call from someone I did not know. It was a
woman with whom I had a nice conversation, but because I did not know then what
I know now, I did not ask her the details I now wish I had. What I still
remember of that conversation is that she was speaking on behalf of a holding company
or some such outfit that was expanding its business in the stationery and
office supplies wholesale and retail sectors. She wanted to know if I would
sell my business. I said I wound it down without declaring bankruptcy which is
why it was still listed in a few places as an ongoing and viable business.
I was, at that time, recuperating from the first operation,
and so I left the matter there and did not think much about it. There was no
Office Depot in Oakville , the town where I still
live but there was one in the neighboring city of Mississauga . I drove there one day only to
see that Office Depot had changed its name to Staples. This is when I
remembered the conversation I had with the woman who called me a few months
before. It must have been these people. And so, I rushed back to talk to my
friend and former competitor only to find that he had gone out of business. I
asked his neighbor what happened, and he told me the man sold the business and
went traveling around the globe. The new owners laid everyone off and shut down
the business.
You sonafagun, I said. I remembered him telling me how much
he loved traveling around the world but especially to Egypt where the
ancient culture there always fascinated him. He had also told me something I
dismissed at the time but now looks like a possible premonition on his part. He
knew as did the whole town how much the Toronto Star was trying to put me out
of business from the moment that I launched the newspaper which competed with
two of their local affiliates. His advice to me was to do what other
publications did in the past, which is to sell the business to them for a
couple million dollars -- and I'll be set for life.
I laughed the suggestion off and did not sell the newspaper.
Later, I missed the opportunity to sell the office supplies business. But my
friend must have taken his own advice, sold for a good price, got out of here
to go fly and sail the world. Sonafagun!
Now, almost ten years later, I wonder how many enterprises
were bought by Staples, put out of business and their employees laid off. And
how much money the likes of Mitt Romney made out of such practices.
Perhaps, Karl Rove could impress upon Mitt Romney to release
all his tax returns. It would be fun to go through them and find out.
Maybe there too, I'll have the opportunity to exclaim
sonafagun!