Down with phony whining

Published 3:27 pm Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Fear and anxiety are contagious. Which is why “haves” in this society don’t have the right to sound like the “have nots,” especially when they have the president’s ear.

Current poster child for this fearful fretting is Velma Hart, a middle-class Maryland woman who said to President Obama at a recent town hall meeting:

“The financial recession has taken an enormous toll on my family. My husband and I joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives. But quite frankly, it’s starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we’re headed again. And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly: Is this my new reality?”

Hart’s remarks have been used to try and show that Obama supporters have grown disillusioned with the president. But her remarks show that this particular Obama supporter (and presumably others) wants the president to tell her, a woman who is actually surviving the poor economy just fine, that she will never, ever have another financial worry.

It turns out that Hart has a well-paying job as the chief financial officer for a nonprofit veteran services organization, and her husband is employed, Washington Post financial columnist Michelle Singletary reported. The couple sends their two children to private school. Sound the baloney alarm. A woman who sends her children to private school is whining to the president about eating pork and beans?

Oh, that was just an attempt at levity, Hart told Singletary. They aren’t really eating hot dogs.

“It was symbolic,” Hart said. “I’m a lot more fortunate than others.”

It was symbolic all right. Of how some people don’t get it.

Her home has lost value, but she’s not in danger of losing her home. A huge difference.

Singletary writes: “Hart isn’t a symbol of fed-up Obama supporters. She’s a stand-in for people who are doing OK financially but who are still uneasy.”

Well, get over it. Uneasiness is a part of life. There’s no magical iEconomy.

For millions, the “financial recession” really has taken an enormous toll. The number of people living in poverty is the highest in 51 years, and the income gap between the richest and poorest Americans grew in 2009.

Our obession with daily “consumer confidence” reports and belief in instant, if not constant, gratification might explain why some people feel the recession has exacted an “enormous toll” on them, when, upon reflection, it turns out they are really “a lot more fortunate than others.” An important distinction to keep in mind.