That's why I stumbled upon the Late Show with David Letterman last night. See, the basic channels like NBC, FOX, and CBS remained unchanged. Apparently this week is premiere week for the late night talk show circuit, so they all try to pack in as many big time guests as possible. Dave had Bill Clinton and Chris Rock last night.
Let me tell you, after hearing Bill speak last night, I'm completely convinced this entire financial fiasco the world is going through would not have occurred had Bill gone FDR on our butts and been in the White House for 16 years. While the entire world seems to be completely flummoxed by this situation (notice the ridiculously volatile oil prices right now), Bill calmly explained to Letterman in layman's terms what the problem was and how he/Hillary proposes to fix it.
Basically he said the Bush administration failed in the beginning of this decade by just handing out tax breaks to the rich instead of giving money/tax breaks/incentives for said rich people to invest in new industries revolving around energy initiatives like alternative fuels and the like. This would create new jobs for the American people (a huge need given all the outsourcing in every industry these days), and also prevent the rich folk from simply re-investing and leveraging in the real estate market. Clinton said all this concisely and re-assured people that everything is going to be alright. Basically what he was saying is that if you're going to allow rich people to get richer it's fine, but make sure they have to make concessions to help the rest of the country in process. Therefore, it turns into a win for everyone.
Who knows if he's right, but I think Americans need to stop playing the blame game in this whole economy mess. Everyone screwed this one up: the federal government, Wall Street, the Main Streets of America, and the really rich barons. Whether it was not providing enough oversight and letting the rich get breaks they didn't deserve (the federal gov't), spending money they didn't have in order to get huge, ridiculosly large bonuses (Wall St.), taking on mortgages people couldn't afford (Main Street America), or just being greedy old farts with no concern for the well being of anyone but themselves (rich barons) ... shit has hit the fan and it's time to regroup.
But what made Clinton's appearance on letterman even more remarkable was Chris Rock following him. The dude was on fire and on point, especially when he criticized Clinton for talking too much about Hillary and not enough about Barack. Here's some highlights:
Rock, out promoting the latest HBO standup special, isn't used to having the secondary slot on a talk show, but allowed it Monday to make way for Clinton, who was asked about the economy and campaign by the host
"I hope you don't expect me to be that smart, Dave. I got nothing," Rock said. "I thought I was watching Charlie Rose."
One observation Rock made was "Is it me, or did he not want to say the words 'Barack Obama?"
Clinton had mentioned his wife quite a bit, he noted. "Hilary ain't running! One of those guys needs to tell him. I love Hillary but she lost. She got a lot of votes she lost. The Patriots got a lot of points too, but they lost to the Giants. "Hillary Clinton didn't lose because of sexism, Rock said. "She lost to a black guy nobody had ever heard of."
As for Sarah Palin, Rock said, "Have you been to Alaska Dave? It's like 'Road Warrior' with snow." He marveled at all those pictures of Palin alongside a moose she had killed. "She's there holding a moose and Michael Vick is like: 'Why am I in jail?'
I think the most important part of that interview was Rock establishing that it's officially no longer too soon to make a pro-Michael Vick joke. I'm looking forward to more because, well, like Rock said the woman who could potentially be our vice president (and holy shit, maybe our President at some point) killed a moose.
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