Sometimes even the left can be so crazy as to make me want to shut them up. Ever since the whole O’Donnell witchcraft issue popped up liberal talk show hosts have had a field day. As some have said it is like a comedy gift from heaven. Mixed in with the O’Donnell pummel was a story about a town hall meeting the President had and there was a woman who essentially gave the Janet Jackson song to the President, What have you done for me lately?

Some hosts have gone on to lists many accomplishments the President has made in the two years he has been in office. It has been pointed out that the issues we face right now have been in the making for at least 8 years and some would argue it has been since the 80’s we have run the country into the ditch. Over and over these hosts will get calls from well-meaning people, as well as crackpots and plants, who ask the same question the woman, asked of the President, what have you done for me lately?

Surprisingly the answer many of the hosts I have head have given sounds like something from the John McCain playbook from the 2008 election, when both John McCain and his chief economic advisor Phil Gramm said the recession was mental and how Americans are a nation of whiners. Democrats jumped all over McCain and Gramm for the statement. Now you have left wing pundits and radio hosts saying the same thing about people complaining about results they were promised. They tout the list, which to be honest doesn’t readily effect a lot of people in ways that is tangible, and then folks are told to be patient.

I agree we have an expectation of results that borders on modern miracles, but what pundits, politicians and talk show hosts fail to realize is how hurt and demoralized the American public is. I have stories of friends who have two jobs and still can’t pay bills, who have lived with pain for two years because they don’t have health insurance and don’t have the money to see a doctor on a regular basis, who have worked out elaborate plans to hit food banks, churches and shelters just so they can get enough food to fed their families on a budget.

There are good people, hardworking people who are looking for a break and sometimes the projection of rosy rhetoric falls hollow on their ears because they don’t see the change, they don’t see the improvements. They don’t have the luxury of looking at the big picture, the grand plan. They look out and see they have a bill on a car they can’t afford, yet need to use it to get to work. They get angry and what to blame something or someone because they have worked hard, played by the rules and they are ones getting screwed over. They want someone to acknowledge their pain then give them a plan that will lead them out of the woods.

The right wing has been good at acknowledging the pain then poking the sore spot with a stick so that the only thing that can be seen is rage. They bring up welfare queens and illegals exploiting the system. They make sure we have an enemy to focus on, yet it doesn’t solve the issue of how we’re going to be helped. The President is so smooth and cool as a commander we don’t see him, as another President masterfully communicated, ‘feel our pain.’ The other side feels and feeds our rage, and that will probably get them elected, but they have no way of solving the issue in a rapid way either.

To illustrate how bad things are, when I went through the earlier recession or whatever the economic downturn was called, I was able to sell off a few things, I waited about 2 months to get a new job, and by the time a year had gone by I was in pretty good shape. While the recession has been longer for most I have felt the big impact from in for just over a year. I had to get rid of the car, I have been dealing with medical issues, I have a job but it doesn’t cover some essential items nor is the income there to take care of them on my own, and as far as selling off items, other than my comic collection I have two folding tables, a mattress and an Xbox 360 I won at my old job. I’m not worth $500 and that’s being generous. As a single guy I can’t get help but if I were to get married and have a child, with my current income I could qualify as poor and get benefits.

The pundits have their ties, suits and charts and feel they understand the pain the country is going through. They either exploit it or try to assure us things are looking better, but real people aren’t seeing it and they aren’t being honest in saying we have a long way to go and it won’t be easy.