Obama not right person to be angry at

Right-wing pundits say the results of the Massachusetts election mean voters are angry at President Barack Obama. I'm angry, too, but not at him.

I'm angry that Republicans have shattered all records for use of the filibuster, basically requiring 60 votes for anything (it would take 67 votes to change that rule). I'm angry that decades of right-wing talk radio has so polarized and demagogued a large portion of the electorate. I'm angry that the Republican National Committee still accepts money from lobbyists (neither Obama nor the Democratic National Committee does).

I'm angry that Republicans deregulated Wall Street and let it run wild. I'm angry that President George W. Bush turned surpluses into the largest deficits the world has known. I'm angry wages shrank in real terms throughout the Bush years even as multimillionaires saw giant annual bonuses and tax cuts.

The point is, the Obama administration inherited all this. And the opposition wants to see him fail.

It is the Democratic Party - which gave us Social Security, Medicare, the minimum wage, AmeriCorps, the GI Bill, the Family and Medical Leave Act, worker safety regulation, the SEC, the FDIC, all of which the GOP opposed - that truly looks out for “Joe the Plumber,” not just the moneyed elite.

Joe Behrendt

West Liberty