POPULIST RAGE IS INCREASING by Frank Rich

The American people are enraged at the entitlement of the rich and powerful at the expense of the middle class and poor. Our bailout tax money is being sat on by the banks, which are run by the lords of the ruling class who give themselves outrageous perks while the rest of us are losing our jobs, houses, and money. These guys are the pals of the Bushes and the Cheneys -- and they figure that, since they were given all the privileges and entitlements they wanted during that administration, business should continue as usual--for them. Damn the poor! Damn the middle class! What do we care about what happens to them? We've got ours and we're going to keep it! If Obama doesn't do something to stop this gang of thieves (instead of appointing their members to his cabinet), there will be another American Revolution that, in comparison, will make the first one look like a walk in the park. Read the following prescient words by columnist Frank Rich, who has observed the present Washington scene and is aghast (as are we all). Obama firmly took the reins in hand when he took office, but that firm grip is loosening and the horses are running away in all directions:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/opinion/08rich.html?_r=2

EXCERPT:
The tsunami of populist rage coursing through America is bigger than Daschle’s overdue tax bill, bigger than John Thain’s trash can, bigger than any bailed-out C.E.O.’s bonus. It’s even bigger than the Obama phenomenon itself. It could maim the president’s best-laid plans and what remains of our economy if he doesn’t get in front of the mounting public anger.

The new president who vowed to change Washington’s culture will have to fight much harder to keep from being co-opted by it instead. There are simply too many major players in the Obama team who are either alumni of the financial bubble’s insiders’ club or of the somnambulant governmental establishment that presided over the catastrophe.