TIME MAGAZINE'S PERSON OF THE YEAR

It is the time of the year for TIME magazine to again select its Person of the Year, to be announced in early December. The choice can be a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse . . . has done the most to influence events of the year." At the extreme of "worse" was Hitler (1938), although in that year we did not yet not realize how evil "worse" could get. At the "better" end was Gandhi in l930, although the British probably would not have thought so. Which brings me to this year's nominees.

My personal choice at the "worse" end would be nominee Glenn Beck, although this is not to equate him with Hitler. But his God's messenger-on-earth approach to right wing proselytizing certainly had some "worse" features in terms of his playing to the dark side of our culture/moral-values war. Happily, he doesn't rise to the standard of doing "the most to influence events of the year". On doing the "most to influence", a top contender among the nominees would have to be "The Unemployed American." If a major news event of the year was the November 2 midterm elections and the huge Republican victory, then the plight of the unemployed workers played a big role in that victory. Whether translated into "It's the economy stupid" or "Jobs, jobs, jobs", the seemingly intractable problem of unemployment is a major indicator of our continuing economic problem -- recession and a sluggish recovery. It is a problem that has certainly been exploited by the Republicans and the Tea Party (TP) movement even while they opposed various stimulus proposals to deal with the problem.

For the GOP/TP "stimulus" itself became a cuss word. Their way of tarring the term was to look at President Obama's nearly $800 billion stimulus package enacted in early 2009, and say that Obama and the Democratic Congress added to the growing budget deficit and debt but "where are the jobs"? Their data point is the unemployment rate which was and is stuck at well above 9 percent. Ignored was the counter argument from some economists that the rate would have been even higher without the stimulus money and tax incentives that created and saved jobs.

The GOP resistance to getting more money into the economy to promote consumer spending, the bedrock of our economy, extended to legislation that was most certain to promote such spending in the quickest way. This is extension of unemployment payments to jobless workers whose benefits were running out. Opposition to further extensions of jobless benefits encompassed the usual right wing mantra about spending and deficits, but was broadened to suggest that such extensions made the jobless lazy; that is, it is easier to just sit back and cash the unemployment checks than to go out and look for work.

Which brings us to the special session of Congress which begins next week. The primary attention of the media has been on the issue of what to do about the temporary tax cuts enacted under the W. Bush administration, tax cuts that explain much of the deficit/debt problem passed on to Obama and railed against by the GOP/TP. Less attention has been given to another major issue on the agenda for the special session -- a further extension of emergency unemployment benefits due to expire at the end of the month.

As Christmas approaches, the big question is whether the Republicans will play Santa Claus or Scrooge. To be fair and balanced, it should be noted that while the Republicans have been united in their opposition to another extension, they were joined before the election by some Democrats who expressed concern about the effect of extending jobless benefits on the deficit/debt problem. It will be interesting to see how those Democrats who lost will now vote with the pre-election posturing out of the way. Come to think of it, it will also be interesting to see if the TP's success in pushing the GOP farther to the right will spillover to Democrats in the House and Senate seeking re-election in 2012. Will they also view becoming more conservative as a move in the right (no pun intended) direction?

In sum, in selecting Person of the Year, TIME should again look to a group rather than a person as it has in a number of previous selections since l927 when all of this began. "The Unemployed American" would certainly fit the criterion for "most to influence events of the year". On the "better" end of the scale, it would give positive recognition to the millions of workers and their families who have suffered and continue to suffer the devastating effects of no job. On the "worse" end, it would shine a light on those who have opposed legislative remedies while castigating Obama and his congressional supporters for their failure to get the economy moving.