The image is positively retro.
Picture a sweaty brow, rolled-up sleeves, knotty forearms, calloused hands. Picture virgin land, just waiting to be transformed.
Shovel-ready land.
This is America on the eve of the Obama era.
Shovel-ready.
He keeps telling us so. On “Meet the Press,” fill-in host Tom Brokaw wants to know how quickly Barack Obama can create jobs, and the president-elect promises to move fast. After all, he says, he’s met with a bunch of governors “and all of them have projects that are shovel-ready.”
Announcing his energy team, Obama beams about “shovel-ready projects all across the country.” Unveiling his choice for education secretary, Obama plugs his plans “to start helping states and local governments with shovel-ready projects.” — Manuel Roig-Franzia, January 8, 2009 in the Washington Post