I told my husband last night that we should’ve voted for McCain. No, I haven’t lost my mind and gone Republican. It’s just that the Spin Machine has started already.

Rush Limbaugh has taken to calling this the “Obama recession” (Limbaugh’s radio show, 11/6/08). Sean Hannity evidently thought that was a clever way to pass the buck too, repeating the phrase on his radio show on November 11.  Tuesday, one of my  colleagues in the university’s English department came into my office to complain about all the unpatriotic liberals who are “going to be sorry they voted for Obama” when he runs the country into bankruptcy. My mom joined the chorus today, mocking Obama’s plans to help people keep their homes and jobs: “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are the Frankenstein monsters of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd.”

I couldn’t help but point out that they weren’t monsters until they were de-regulated by Phil Graham in 2000. His Commodity Futures Modernization Act can also be blamed for credit default swaps and the “Enron loophole” (New York Times, 11/14/08).

Never mind that most economists believe the recession began early this year, before Obama even won his first primary (New York Times, 11/14/08). Never mind Republicans had control of the House for 11 of the past 13 years (www.house.gov). Never mind that Republicans had control of the Senate for 10 of the past 12 years (www.senate.gov). Never mind that a Republican has been in the White House for 28 of the past 38 years!

Isn’t anyone else noticing the pattern? Alan Greenspan claims that the current economic recession is “a once-in-a-century type of financial crisis,” but this is actually the third time in the last century that we’ve endured this kind of mess (CNN. 9/14/08). 1929 – which followed 8 years of Republican rule; 1987 – which followed 7 years of Republican rule; and 2008- which is following 8 years of Republican rule (Whitehouse.gov). Every time we give the Republicans the power to implement conservative economic principles, they run our economy into the ground. And when the middle class starts to feel the pinch (which we seem to feel before anyone else), they tell us to shut up and stop whining (AP, 12/14/07; ABC, 7/13/08).

Having Republicans blame Obama and the Democrats for this economic nightmare reminds me a playground bully. The kid is the ruler of the playground, terrorizing everyone else and having a wonderful time with a kickball no one else gets to touch. After a while, the ball goes flat because of his rough play. He surrenders the flattened kickball to one of his victimized schoolmates, taunting them for their inability to bounce it and blaming them for its ruin.

Obama will be able to do no right in the eyes of the sore losers. He hasn’t even taken office yet. He hasn’t passed a single new law. He hasn’t established a single new policy. But everything’s his fault already. He has inherited a flattened kickball, and the kids who flattened it are going to blame and taunt him for it.

We should’ve given it to McCain. After all, he was the bully’s toadie and rightful heir.