open letter to Rachel Maddow
Rachel, When responding to the new GOP Chair's distinction between making 'work' vs. making 'jobs' on the 2/9/09 show it felt like you intentionally misunderstood or refused to understand his point as a way to poke fun at his argument. While I understand the pull to maneuver and spin these soundbites, and while I agree that his proposition was preposterous, I think that in order for the nation to follow President Obama down the path toward more honest government where he is attempting to lead us, the press will need to cooperate by taking a more substantively engaged position on these issues. In this particular case, the issue with the work/jobs distinction is based on the fallacious assumption that private sector jobs are more stable or last longer than government jobs. Or that infrastructure projects are somehow ephermeral in their impact. I think that these points can (and need to be) refuted, both with argument and with data. But to simply