The American Spectator

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p> PIED PRESIDENT? br> Re: George Neumayr's Bitter Pill : /p>

As I read George Neumayr's excellent analysis in "Bitter Pill," I began to ponder the Obama campaign and was struck with an awareness of how much like the story of the Pied Piper of Hamlin it is.

You remember. The people of Hamlin are facing difficulties in their community -- economic and social -- by an unprecedented increase in the number of rats among them.

p>As the problem worsens, the Pied Piper comes to town, speaking eloquently of hope and change, and campaigns to be elected to the exalted position of "Savior of the Town," promising to rid them of br> all of their problems. /p>

"Pied," in case you don't remember, means multicolored, allowing the people of Hamlin each to find his favorite color on the Piper and each to believe that the piper was there especially for him.

Well, the piper played his seductive tunes of hope and change and soon all of the rats were following him out of town toward and into the river.

Sadly, so, too, were all of the children of Hamlin.

The story ends with the duped citizens -- so full of the audacity of hope during the campaign -- now in the deepest despair as they watch their most precious resources -- and their future -- drown.

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