Obama clingers vs. Gramm whiners
Which characterization is more accurate - Barack Obama's "clingers" or the Phil Gramm's "whiners?"
Obama used the word "cling" to describe how certain voters look for comfort in tough economic times.
Phil Gramm's "whiners" are similar Americans.
Both are suffering lost jobs, lost homes and high gasoline prices.
Gramm's purely subjective characterization is devastatingly ironic.
He was a major player in the passage of legislation to tear down the post-depression wall between banks and speculative investments.
The result was a booming mortgage market where lenders looked less at the qualifications of borrowers and more at their ability to make money by handing off the paper to others.
The result has been damage to our economy and severe financial pain for our citizens.
McCain, admitting he knew little about economics while promising to read a book by Alan Greenspan, brought Phil Gramm aboard his campaign as economic adviser.
Would you rather our next president took our economic woes seriously or told us our problems were all imagined?
I go for the former.
At least someone would be working to improve our lives, and I wouldn't be stuck with bills for psychoanalysis after my health insurance is canceled.
Karen Wagner
Rolling Meadows