Whistle a Happy Tune, or Else

We know that Mike Rogers doesn't really pay much attention to the lives of people living in MI- 08. That much is clear from his voting record, which shows plenty of support for oil companies & not enough for working families. He prefers to stay in Washington, spending his time & energy fundraising on behalf of his fellow Republican pols. When he does come home, it's to raise more money or piggyback onto programs set up and funded by other people.

Well, Mr. Rogers was in town this weekend, rallying the party faithful as the keynote speaker for this year's Lincoln Day Dinner. He manfully held back the tears as he recounted his chat with a group of "dejected" Okemos high school students, who (according to MR) "honestly believed the world was going to combust in 26 minutes." He "was shocked — shocked, and said ‘oh, wow,’ what work do we have to do.’”

Let's leave aside the fact that Mr. Rogers enjoys what could be described as "emotional" anecdotes, which are only tenuously based in reality.

Why, oh why, might high school students be concerned about their country's future?

Could it be the endless war which has claimed 4,000 American lives while enriching no-bid contractors like KBR, whose poor quality work has injured and even killed active-duty service members ?

Or maybe it's the abandonment of our Constitution by Bush and his happy henchmen like Rogers, who have rolled over on FISA, habeas corpus, opposition to torture and other bedrocks of American values.

Perhaps they're concerned about our massive national debt, which has mortgaged their futures and jeopardized our national economic security. How 'bout those record levels of unemployment and home foreclosures, or the skyrocketing prices for food and fuel?

The students at OHS (and their parents) have plenty of reasons to be concerned about our country's future. It's patronizing at best -- and downright idiotic at worst -- for Mike Rogers to natter on about "what work [he has] to do" to get these kids to whistle a happy tune.

Mike Rogers is in the home stretch of his fourth term in Washington. In the majority for the first 3 terms, he agreed to war, torture, debt and corporate welfare. Now in the minority, he's managed to simultaneously whine about (a) how badly the Dems have messed things up and (b) how swell things actually are.

Mr. Rogers certainly DOES have work to do -- he needs to quit with the happy talk, go back to Washington and work to get our country moving in the right direction.