What about the forthcoming flood, the one engulfing the entire nation--the economic demise that is already up to our knees and rising rapidly? The evidence is plain.

Food and fuel costs are galloping ahead, as is health care…and wages are not keeping up, not even close. Eighty percent of the American workforce earned 3% less in July than they had a year earlier. A three percent loss every month adds up to a heap of lost earning power per year. There are reports everywhere of parents foregoing new clothes for their kids for the new school year. The economy has shed 429,000 jobs so far in 2008, and people are scared, really scared.

Some will weather this storm as they did Katrina and Rita. In fact, some add to their wealth as a result of such downpours--nice. But the outlook for most is severe flooding sweeping away the modest support they have left.

Echoes are sounding from many quarters in the Obama movement: Are hope and change enough? When will he speak out against the lashing working Americans are taking, and speak with the fervor and commitment he has shown on other issues? What’s the plan to help that eighty percent stop the flood and restore some stability?

One tip for the Democratic candidate—private solutions, free market gestures, tax credits for the rich - wars of choice —that’s what got us into this mess. Let’s use the engine that is the US government and rebuild this country, and put Americans to work doing it. That needs to start now, with pronouncements by any candidate who gets it.