Did You Know...

**Written by Doug Powers
*****

Am I in my cabin dreaming,
Or are you really scheming,
To take my ship away from me?

Grand Funk – “I’m Your Captain”
*****

Out: Republicans put the car in a ditch. In: I’m the captain of a ship in rough seas but can’t control the weather.

If you’ve got a thing for high-seas metaphors, President Obama’s upcoming 60 Minutes interview has you covered:

STEVE KROFT: Do you think that you might have the unemployment rate down to 8 percent by the time the election rolls around?

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I think it’s possible. But…I’m not in the job of prognosticating on the economy. I’m in the job of putting in place the tools that allow the economy to thrive and Americans to succeed. Sometimes when I’m talking to my team, I- describe us…as…I’m the captain and they’re the crew on a ship, going through really bad storms. And no matter how well we’re steering the ship, if the boat’s rocking back and forth and people are getting sick and…they’re being buffeted by the winds and the rain and…at a certain point– if you’re asking, “Are you enjoying the ride right now?” Folks are going to say, “No.” And are they going to say, “Do you think the captain’s good—doing a good job?” People are going say, “You know what? A good captain would have had us in some smooth waters and sunny skies, at this point.” And I don’t control the weather. What I can control are the policies we’re putting in place to make a difference in people’s lives.

Please pass the Dramamine.

Many assumed that a candidate who claimed to have the ability to slow the rise of the oceans might also be able to quell the vexed state of the fiscal seas. But alas, even Neptune and Poseidon had their weaknesses, and apparently economics was one of them.

Obama’s problems aren’t as much about weather as they are about direction. According to a CBS News poll, voters are “overwhelmingly pessimistic” (keep in mind though this data comes from a network that was overwhelmingly optimistic about Katie Couric). According to the poll, 75 percent of the country says the nation is headed the wrong way — not only through “rough seas” mind you, but in the wrong direction. Captains can’t control the weather, but they are held accountable for the movements of the rudder:

Obama might claim to have no control over the economic weather, but his Doppler radar reaches back quite a ways to explain from where our current nasty weather system originated. George W. Bush and his father receive some blame for the current conditions, and even Bill Clinton gets a taste of the underside of Team Obama’s storm-chasing bus:

President Obama says he will need more than one term to revive an economy that began developing problems years ago.

“Reversing structural problems in our economy that have been building up for two decades, that was going to take time,” Obama says in a 60 Minutes interview to air Sunday night.

No more “if I don’t have this turned around in three years I’m a one-termer“? The Captain changes his mind a lot.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe