No need to go over the top. We overachieving geniuses here are just fine. This must be the payoff for all those years of discipline, study, hard work, playing by the rules, and pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps ( We were both working class kids who have earned every dime we have. Let's hear you whine about THAT.) As Granite State Conservative pointed out, some people have invested decades in their educations so they could become their own CEOs. No shame in THAT. That's what it's all about.
Our commumity, however, has been very hard hit. That is a simple fact. Very good , decent, hard working people can not get jobs. The fact is that however misdirected the perception might be, the voters tend to hold the party in power accountable during an economic meltdown. Ignore this fact at your political peril. Deny it all you want, but come November 2004, the people will speak. We should all fear what they may say. That's just the real world, fella. Those are the facts, and the facts are not changing - no matter how violently you want to kill the messenger.