When you build an army of $86 contributors, rest assured you have an army who will not tolerate your failures. Unlike $250,000 fat-cat contributors who find value in having their picture taken with you and being invited to some stuffed-collar black tie dinner, the $86 contributors wants something far more real than a worthless picture -- they want results, and they want them now!
The terrible truth is that you, Mr. B., will be unable to deliver the goods.
The day is coming when your ship will mutiny unlike any mutiny in the nation's history. We have seen them before. They were the Bonus Marchers in 1932 that Douglas MacArthur confronted with machine guns on the steps of the nation's capitol. They were the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom who told the liberal John F. Kennedy in August 1963 that "I Have a Dream." They were the Million Man March who confronted the liberal Bill Clinton in October, 1995. They were the ordinary guy who wanted a break and who never got a break.
But they never elected their guy to office before. They knew they were on the bottom, and instead of believing their voices were actually heard in the halls of the Congress, they just wanted someone to pay attention to give them a little bit of what they felt they deserved. But now, Mr. B., they believe you are their man.
Sorry, Mr. B., you are anything but their champion.
You will inherit a White House that is broke. You will inherit an economy where over the next four years there will be 4 to 6 million people added to the 9.5 million now unemployed. Unemployment will increase from the current 6.1% level to 6.5% by the end of the year and then 8% or more by 2010 and 2011.
For African Americans, those who look to you the most for help, the unemployment rate stands at 11.9% and for teenagers, it's 19.1%. Their unemployment numbers will skyrocket. Your biggest fans will demand the most from you and get the least.
You watch, Mr. B., they will be furious with you.
You will face 14 million or more unemployed workers. On a global level, more than 200 million people will be unemployed by 2009. And there isn't a single thing you can or will do for them. You are going to inherit the largest nightmare since Herbert Hoover, and you will be lucky if you don't become one of the most "abominable" men in American history.
For some reason, Mr. B., you think it's cool to advertise your picture on billboards in the Sony X-Box 360 internet race games that unemployed Gen Xers play in a mindless LED glow that saps out their brains as if they were flushed down the toilet. You think it's cool that people who can't afford it are giving you their last dollar to help you get elected. Do you really think these people will stand up for you when they no longer have a quarter in their pocket to play their ridiculous video games?
Mr. B., I feel sorry for you.
Your campaign was one of the most amazing in history, not because it was innovative (anyone can get unemployed kids to big rallies where rock bands play in the park for free), but because it was a rebellion of the poor. People with no money to spare actually gave their last dime to you. Your internet money machine spewed dollars as if it were a magic slot machine ringing up a jack pot, and it worked because there were so many poor people of every color who gave you $86 dollars.
Your election is a revolution, not of great American values, but of the down trodden, the disenfranchised, and the abused who are angry. Not even Franklin Roosevelt in the depth of the Great Depression was beholding to such an insidious demanding group of instant gratifiers who will stand for nothing less than immediate satisfaction. Let's face it, Mr. B., you will try to change things, but you will fail because you have way over promised, way over speculated, and way overspent political capital you don't have.
It may take a while, Mr. B., but Americans will say they've been snowed.
If 1987 is any indication, the last time the stock market plunged in this manner, it took a full four years for the economy to reach the bottom. After your ship unemploys an additional 6 million Americans above the current 9.5 million, every last one of those unemployed will say you failed. They will be joined by the vast majority of Americans who will foot the bill, and there isn't anything you can do about it.
When they rebel, and rest assured, Mr. B., they will rebel, they and a whole lot of others will call you every foul name in the English language. This election has been mild even though Cindy McCain said it is the dirtiest in American history. In the immortal words of Al Jolson and then Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Mr. B ... B ... B ... "You ain't seen nothin' yet."