CNBC's Rick Santelli Rants

Last week the media formed a now-normal closed loop regurgitating the “news” that Americans were “deeply split” (NY Post) on Obama and his housing plan.

The cable nets went full-tilt especially after a CNBC reporter checked his credibility at the door of the Chicago Board of Trade and went on a stream-of-consciousness rant about how Obama’s housing plan reminded him of nothing more than Cuba under Castro.

By Sunday when the nets rolled out their gabfests it was no longer a question. The debates were over how bad Americans hated the housing plan, and by extension how diminished the President was because of it. But the idea that true populism could come from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade where CNBC’s Rick Santelli actually said with a straight face as he turned to the crowd of well-to-do traders, “a pretty good statistical cross-section of America, the silent majority.”

So anyway…. Monday brought a reminder of how the incestuous media coupled with the inside-the-beltway brigade are so often absolutely wrong about what average Americans actually think. Two big polls showing Obama’s plans broadly popular with voters.

The New York Times/CBS News Poll found that voters approved the housing plan 61% – 20%. The ABC/Washington Post Poll reports voters approve the stimulus plan 64% – 35%. What was that about the “silent majority” Rick?

The most telling numbers about what Americans think of what’s happening in Washington, however, are these: In both surveys roughly three-quarters of those polled say they believe Obama is trying to work with Republicans. Fewer than a third believe Republicans are trying to work with Obama.

Of course what other conclusion could voters draw when not a single Republican House member voted for the stimulus, some Republican Governors say they would rather not take stimulus money if it means expanding unemployment benefits, and other Republicans fresh from arguing the stimulus didn’t do enough about housing now say they don’t like Obama’s housing bill because it may help some people who shouldn’t have gotten a mortgage in the first place.

The media bigshots and the markets and the bankers and the traders and the normally Republican-leaning financial industry types may all be in a tizzy about the new Administration’s historic interventions in the economy — they may claim there’s a wave of “populist revolt” spreading across the country — but Americans who actually live outside the cultured cocoons of comfort have a different, far more visceral understanding of our economic plight and what might be required to fix it.

Unlike the denizens of drummed-up “news theater”, regular Americans know plenty of people who no longer have jobs. They know plenty of people who got no severance with their pink slip and have no prospects for work. They know the desperate look of the family breadwinner facing foreclosure. And they know that we are all in this together. Your neighbor’s plight could spread like cancer.

And so perhaps the talking heads in media and money and politics could take a breath here and realize what the people got long ago: This isn’t — cue the dramatic music and animated segment intro — “America on the Ropes.” It’s not an excuse for silly gamesmanship and wordsmithing. This is a deep economic abyss that is sucking in our fellow citizens. We need clear-headed fact-based reporting. Not fancy graphics and pseudo-populist on-air ravings.