Trillions for Wall Street, Zero for Detroit

Merriam-Webster defines lickspittle as "a fawning subordinate; toady." I like words and, though dictionaries sometimes get infrequently used words wrong, in this case Merriam-Webster captures the essence of it. Barack Obama confuses the wave of righteous anger that brought him to the White House with a different kind of political support: the kind that can be bought. And he thinks if he's fawning enough to Wall Street, if he's a lickspittle, he'll get the money he needs to keep his political career in high gear. Well, he should think twice. Whatever Americans may say to pollsters about not wanting to bail out the automakers — meaning to them automaker executives — there's a lot of support out there for the industry and a lot of people will get angry all over again if Mr. Obama flushes it down the tubes.