Comments on: Discuss Tuesday's commentary and letters http://blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/roundtable/2008/12/02/discuss-tuesdays-commentary-and-letters-37/ Read and comment on topics posted by The Roanoke Times editorial board. Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:07:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Sandi Saunders http://blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/roundtable/2008/12/02/discuss-tuesdays-commentary-and-letters-37/#comment-31534 Sandi Saunders Wed, 03 Dec 2008 04:13:28 +0000 http://blogs.roanoke.com/rtblogs/roundtable/?p=8308#comment-31534 "Can't Congress make bankers sweat?" Good commentary. The only differences I see between the auto makers and the bankers & insurance companies is that the auto makers make an honest to goodness product all people use and they have a unionized workforce. If Citi, AIG, Bears Stearn, etc. all had a union workforce (that some people have dogged and defamed for decades), they would have had to work and sacrifice for their bailouts too. What better time, what better excuse for what amounts to union busting? The writing is there for all to see. "Wait and see about Obama" and "Challenges present a turning point" were both excellent commentaries I agreed with as well. I would so love to see this country actually lay aside the vitriol and baiting from both sides and pull together to solve our problems. We suffered through eight years of Clinton bashing and they suffered through eight years of Bush bashing, couldn't we just call it even and move forward for the good of all? TCTS: I have seen and heard several comments regarding the comparison's of FDR and Obama and the Great Depression versus this recession and the right wing consensus is that the war is what got America out of The Depression not any of FDR's ideas or programs. Not being a scholar, I have to ask: Is it really impossible that FDR could have succeeded if the war had not happened to "save him" (which is such a savage thing to say)? Conversely, we are currently in two wars and many contemplated a third, so how come that won't "save us" now? Was it the war or was it America pulling together for a united cause with the requisite sacrifice? Skip the flip answers and let's discuss rationally (but simply, for us slow folks). "Can't Congress make bankers sweat?" Good commentary. The only differences I see between the auto makers and the bankers & insurance companies is that the auto makers make an honest to goodness product all people use and they have a unionized workforce. If Citi, AIG, Bears Stearn, etc. all had a union workforce (that some people have dogged and defamed for decades), they would have had to work and sacrifice for their bailouts too. What better time, what better excuse for what amounts to union busting? The writing is there for all to see.

"Wait and see about Obama" and "Challenges present a turning point"
were both excellent commentaries I agreed with as well. I would so love to see this country actually lay aside the vitriol and baiting from both sides and pull together to solve our problems. We suffered through eight years of Clinton bashing and they suffered through eight years of Bush bashing, couldn't we just call it even and move forward for the good of all?

TCTS: I have seen and heard several comments regarding the comparison's of FDR and Obama and the Great Depression versus this recession and the right wing consensus is that the war is what got America out of The Depression not any of FDR's ideas or programs. Not being a scholar, I have to ask: Is it really impossible that FDR could have succeeded if the war had not happened to "save him" (which is such a savage thing to say)? Conversely, we are currently in two wars and many contemplated a third, so how come that won't "save us" now? Was it the war or was it America pulling together for a united cause with the requisite sacrifice? Skip the flip answers and let's discuss rationally (but simply, for us slow folks).

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