81%

From today's NY Times:

81% in Poll Say Nation Is on the Wrong Track

Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll. In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.

...Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.

...The dissatisfaction is especially striking because public opinion usually hits its low point only in the months and years after an economic downturn, not at the beginning of one. Today, however, Americans report being deeply worried about the country even though many say their own personal finances are still in fairly good shape.

I think this clips represents the US today, with Tom Hanks as everyman (of course) and Dan Hedaya as the Republican Party, trying to have it both ways and exert power, when he is truly powerless.

I think his "I know he can get the job, but can he do the job" is the tell. Thats the lasting hallmark of the Bush WH. They trick, lie, obfuscate, twist and manipulate to get the job, but prove time and again they just cant do the job. No leadership. No interest in anything but their personal political gain. Used war as an attempt to create a permanent majority by appealing the absolute worst in Americans. As if that strategy hadnt already hot bottom in the elections themselves.



Its obscure, but one of my very favorite films.