To go on welfare was for them too shameful to contemplate. So, they worked and thought and fed their children and made a life of honour for themselves.

That is is precisely the ethic that the Left has been trying so hard to eradicate. They are at war with the self-reliant, independent individual that they cannot control.

My parents were of that war generation. To go on welfare was for them too shameful to contemplate. So, they worked and thought and fed their children and made a life of honour for themselves.

Good luck with Obama and his nostrums, Elkhart.

Is anyone asking how it is possible to predict the future, it’s called having a business strategy. Those smart boys with their MBAs from Harvard Business School are too fond of believing what computers tell them rather that relying on their own experience.

But in this Brave New World experience seems to be a quality that disqualifies people from top jobs.

Barak Obama, our president, came to my home town yesterday. I listened. I heard eloquence but also lies. I was profoundly disappointed. And as I continued to mull over his words, I was astonished at his hutzba to come here, of all places. And I felt used, because this visit was the apex of disingenuity. Because he, his policies, and his party are the cause of the problems we face here in Elkhart County.

1) Our very successful RV industry displaced most other employers. The Elkhart economy was a one horse show, and was ripe for this type of tragedy. In retrospect, our economy should have been more diverse. This was not his fault, but it does make our situation unique – Fortunately not all of America is in our economic condition. Our situation should not be publicized as the norm in America – it is the extreme. We are the New Orleans of Katrina, not the soup kitchen of 1938: hurting but fortunately isolated.

2) For the last decade, we were told by many that $4 gas was to be the norm, since we were prohibited from drilling for oil. This made the use of RVs much less attractive. (Remember the ANWAR opposition 8 years ago came form the Dems, Obama’s party). And we were all assured that under the incoming administration the gas taxes would go up and the opportunity to domestically produce and use conventional fuels would go down. RVs need cheap gas – The GOP was the “Drill Here – Drill Now – Pay Less” party. Here in Elkhart, we all expect the cheap gas we now enjoy will disappear as soon as the new administration gets around to restoring the ban on drilling. After all Europe pays $8 per gallon and why shouldn’t we?

3) RVs are low mileage vehicles simply because of their size. A small RV is simply an SUV, and a small SUV is a minivan. There is no faddish “green technology” here, and no guarantees of federal support. In fact we heard:

Pitching his message to Oregon’s environmentally-conscious voters, Obama called on the United States to “lead by example” on global warming, and develop new technologies at home which could be exported to developing countries.

“We can’t drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK,” Obama said.

“That’s not leadership. That’s not going to happen,” he added.

The RV industry got the message loud and clear – there is no room for them at the table.

4) We were told that the economy was in near fatal depression and descending so fast it might be irreparable. Folks stopped buying optional things. This “trash talking” of the economy is continuing in the press, in Washington, and even here in our own “town meeting”. Now the word “catastrophe” is being used in the highest circles. Where is the “The president must be the economy’s cheerleader in chief” talk we heard a few years ago? (This may gall the White House, but Bill Clinton and Bob Rubin were models of discipline compared to this Administration when it came to the economy and the role of the Economic Cheerleader-in-Chief. http://econ161.berkeley.edu/movable_type/archives/000351.html).

5) In Obama’s mind, RVs are owned by rich white suburbanites and retirees. (He has said “The suburbs bore me.”, also “Obama’s Youth Movement: The Nation: Young Voters Flock To The Democratic Hopeful, But Can They Drive His Agenda?” http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/15/opinion/main3837466.shtml). His disdain for both us and our values was apparent from his San Francisco speech (Referring to working-class voters in old industrial towns decimated by job losses, the presidential hopeful said: “They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion…”). Both our customers and our workers realize they are targets, not participants in the present administration. The words of accommodation are over and we are instead being shown a clenched fist. This instills a paralyzing fear that depresses the other sectors of our local economy.

I think Obama’s visit to Elkhart is the epitome of hubris. He caused this almost single handedly. Now he wants to use our misfortune to reward his own political agenda and constituency. How much of the “affordable housing” or Acorn money will come to Elkhart? None.

But that is OK. Just let us compete, as we have done so successfully for so long, without onerous taxes or regulations and we can recover on our own.

Mr. President, please don’t trash talk my home town. It has very real consequences.

Some of these companies are CLOSING THEIR DOORS. They’ve stopped making them. they stopped, because they know something you don’t: their business!

Next, the banks will only start lending again as soon as TARP II is passed and the government actually gets around to buying their toxic assets. Everyone’s waiting on the gummint.

Retirees will not be buying rV’s also, because not as many will be retiring. They got wiped out in the stock market, remember. Those who do retire will be hoarding their money as others are doing now. They’re not expecting much in the way of dividends for awhile. they also can’t sell their houses and go live in an RV, because the real-estate market kinda sucks, right now.

Everyone is waiting on the gimmint solution, because the gummint has said they will intervene. Everyone’s just waiting… and waiting. If the gummint decided to wait and see before doing anything else, the system would fix itself soon, but the gummint has inserted uncertainty about the future.

As to the article, how ironic that the victims of Obama’s policies are now being used as a prop for his poolicies. talk about adding insult to injury. Oddly enough, they’re probably dumb enough not to realize it, or they’d be protesting his appearance. People just don’t understand their own country’s system of economics.