Had to take Time Off from the Computer, sorry. . .
Most of what has gone on in Washington and across the country so far this year has been so difficult to observe, that many of us are doing our best to do the ostrich thing. Its less painful to look the other way. How much can anyone take?
We’ve been pounded from all sides. Earthquakes in Washington. Massive Tornadoes. None of the professional politicos are even trying to do what we have sent them to do – take care of the “People’s Business.” We were desperately seeking jobs when Obama’s landslide swept him into office. So that situation certainly can’t be blamed on him. All those great ideas he had as a candidate never got off the ground – turned out to be more talk than any solid plans. Don’t know if anyone knows what went wrong there. I KNOW he wanted to do the necessary things to get people back to work. Was it lack of concrete plans, his advisers, misdirected energy or just too much resistance?
But is is clear this year what the problem is -it’s the number 1 goal of the GOP to insure that Obama is a one term president. It may be the worst congress in history! There is nothing wrong in America which could not have been fixed had the wild-eyed Tea-partyers even half tried for some across the isle cooperation. And, if President Obama had not been so hell-bent to be fair to Republicans who have shown nothing but hatred and malice back to him, maybe, just maybe we could have got something done which would have eased the pain of our millions.
Unless Obama is willing to accept the most inept president-title in history, he must stand and fight and believe the things he once spoke of. Mouthing the words is useless without the appropriate lines of action. He must dictate the terms and call the shots. That’s what presidents do, Not to, is to allow chaos to rule which is what we have seen.
EVERYBODY can see who the obstructionists are. And all can clearly see that President Obama has been ineffectual and not the strong advocate we thought we had elected. Most of us feel betrayed, let down. These are matters of fact but not the end of the story.
The truth is, that we will stop nursing our wounds and pull for him again (with our votes) if he just rises to the needs of the time we find ourselves in now. We are incapable of ground-swelling for him again. That’s over with – a done deal. But I daresay that there aren’t too many Democrats who would permit the likes of Governor Perry to occupy the White house. He would spread poverty further and deeper in our country, given the chance – he has not been good for Texas, not if you look at what the people got in the bargain.
Our President has done much to be proud of – - don’t let anyone forget that! He has moved DADT almost to completion. That’s a big deal in my book. All people have the right to be treated as equals with all other people – period. He has done more than any other president toward trying to equalize earth’s needs thru right action with the EPA and so on; cutting off mountain tops etc – - is still trying for right action (before we completely destroy our planet) The GOP fights every move as the profit picture for corporations is the only motivator with them. He has tried. HE is the one who got Osama bin Laden. His cool, well thought-out plans helped produce success for good moves in the East. Criticized at every step, even so – it was beautiful. And let us not forget the two wonderful new additions to the Supreme Court. Therein lies what little hope we have a right to claim against the ole boys network in charge there – four of whom should be impeached or jailed or something – surely there must be something one can do about activist judges re-writing the laws to suit themselves in contradiction to the (almost) sacred Constitution.
We have a wise, cool, beloved and talented person occupying the Whitehouse. He has really done much right. Of course there are things we – any of us could take issue with, but it would serve us well to realize how impossibly hard his job is. How difficult it must be sometimes to even want to get up in the morning. Perhaps lifting our vision just a bit and trying to pull in the same direction with him instead of all over the place, We could move things along. A simple prayer now and then wouldn’t hurt (for those who do such things).
The following article ran a few days ago and I thought Ms Blumner did a darned nice job. . . read on. Jan
Obama has a record to win on
ROBYN BLUMNER
There’s a difference between winning a contest and not losing it. While both scenarios share the same temporal features, a declared winner demonstrates his superiority and gives off the appearance of success. The “nonloser” is just the last man standing
This thought occurred to me as I watched President Barack Obama and his jobs message traverse the heartland in his big, black, fortified bus. The president is trying to get across that he understands the American people’s frustration with the stagnant economy and high unemployment. He promises a new jobs plan next month, even though it’s likely to be dead on arrival thanks to House Republicans. Obama seems to have lost his ability to inspire.
Sequestering yourself in an ominous-looking bus convoy doesn’t say, “The public’s interests are my interests,” but rather, “I can’t hear you.” Obama would do better making his way around on Air Force One. At least then people would think, “Here comes the president,” not, “Here comes Beyonce.”
Obama has a record to run on, and proudly so, even if the economy has not rebounded to anyone’s liking. He should win re-election not just because “President Rick Perry” would remake America as Texas, where the number of workers earning federal minimum wage or less is greater than those in California, Florida and Illinois combined, health insurance is but a dream to one in four and public schools survive on table scraps.
President Obama’s record of accomplishment as president is the anti-Perry model of government. Obama saved the Detroit car industry, secured reforms that will bring health insurance to nearly everyone, appointed two Supreme Court justices who stand with people over corporations, put constraints on a reckless Wall Street, brought consumer-friendly regulators such as Elizabeth Warren into government, got Congress to repeal the discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” law, extended a strong, if only temporary, safety net for unemployed Americans, and used a stimulus package to stop the hemorrhaging of American jobs and avoid a Depression.
All this was done while battling the headwinds of stiff Republican resistance. As Obama formulates a narrative for his re-election, he needs to sear into the consciousness of Americans what the nation looked like when he took office.
On January 20, 2009, inauguration day, we were in the throes of the biggest one-month loss in jobs in decades with a plunge of 779,000. The U.S. economy shed an average of 753,000 jobs in each of the first three months of that year. Before Obama had time to properly arrange his clothes in his White House closet, he was facing an economy in recession that had shed more than 5 million jobs, with no end in sight.
Then there was the other present that George W. Bush left behind: a whopping budget deficit. According to PolitiFact, two weeks before Obama took office, the Congressional Budget Office determined that the projected deficit for fiscal year 2009 was $1.2 trillion.
Obama has to tell the real story of the $787 billion economic stimulus package. The public thinks it failed and that it is the driver of our national debt problems, neither of which is true. Gary Burtless, an economist at the Brookings Institution, was one of many in his field who credited the stimulus package with preventing complete economic disaster, giving it an overall grade of B+. If anything, the stimulus package didn’t go far enough.
Despite the ongoing gloom, Obama saved the day.
There is no reason for him to squeak out a 2012 victory from people who are largely voting against his opponent. He deserves to win, not just “not lose.” But he has to start making that case.
Robyn Blumner writes for Tribune Media Services. blumner@sptimes.com
