Little disillusions me more about President Obama than his proclivity to either implement his own policies or to indulge in procrastination paralysis, then send his staff out to whine about the previous administration.
Granted, the fledgling Obama administration was dealt a bad hand, but so are many administrations.
And let's be honest: by February 2007, when Barack Obama declared his presidential intentions, everyone already realized that picking up the broken pieces of our country left behind by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney would be a very tough slog. True, U.S. financial markets collapsed after Mr. Obama won the Democratic presidential nomination, but throughout 2007-08, middle-class Americans were already facing undue financial pressures.
Presidential Advisor Valerie Jarrett, close Obama confidant from hometown Chicago, commented two weeks ago:
"Think about what we were handed. Two wars. A global economic meltdown. The largest deficit in the nation's history. A health-care crisis. A public-education crisis. An energy crisis. And a crisis in how we've been perceived around the world... "
In her ode to Obama's victimhood, Ms. Jarrett failed to acknowledge:
- H.R.1, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the landmark $825-billion stimulus bill urged and signed by President Obama as his first legislation in office.
- That President Obama has, thus far, willfully abdicated leadership on health care reform by never once clearly articulating what he supports in health care reform legislation.
Instead, the President continues to play a semi-skillfull game of political dodge-and-weave, while colorfully bemoaning on TV, "We are the only advanced democracy on Earth... that allows such hardships for millions of its people."
- That he has accomplished a sum total of ZERO progress on either public education or the energy crisis, other than to punt these issues, which he claimed were top priorities, down the road. All while animatedly yakking in town halls about his supposed education and energy policies, of course.
- That little has changed in the Iraq War since President Bush left office. 120,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, as well as tens of thousands of U.S. private contractors. Troop deaths and serious injuries continue to mount, with deaths expected to soon reach 4.400 U.S. soldiers.
- That despite Obama announcing, as his first official presidential act, the closure of Guantanamo Bay prison facility by January 2010, the Obama administration will fail to make that deadline. And will likely fail to close Guantanamo in 2010 or perhaps even in 2011.
Guantanamo, of course, is widely regarded as the best known, and most reviled, symbol of American injustice on the world stage. And yet, Jarrett detachedly puzzled only two weeks ago about "how we've been perceived around the world."
Now, President Obama seeks to send at least 30,000 new U.S. troops to the eight-year U.S. War in Afghanistan, bringing total U.S. troops in that country to over 100,000.
And yet, doubtlessly, in his much ballyhooed speech set for 24 hours from now, on December 1, 2009, President Obama will blame the Bush administration for forcing him to take these actions.
I'll want to shout at the screen, "Be a leader, Mr. President! Take responsibility for your orders and policies, and convince us why you're correct... rather than glumly whining about the last guy. And do the job!!! Get it done right and get it done on time."
And, as I wrote here in January 2009, I'll want to shout, "Grow a backbone... show a little dignity... This is a surprisingly lackluster start for a President who campaigned as the Great Inspirer... "
Yes, I'll want to shout my exhortations for strong leadership to the TV screen tomorrow night. But I won't be watching. After less than a year in office, I've already seen this too many times before from Obama.
And I'm loathe to waste my time on reruns. Besides, whining gets on my nerves.
Show me bold, imaginative, inspired, smart leadership similar to your campaign persona, President Obama, and I will once again watch, listen to, and believe in you and your vision and commitment.
Until then, count me as one Democrat deeply disappointed by your first year in office. This is not what I campaigned, contributed, and voted for.
Comments
Absolutely amazing blog, Deb! You hit the nail on the head…let’s see less talk and more ACTION! Cmon now, Obama! You can do it!
Deborah –
I’d like to listen to the speech before judging. There are nothing but bad choices for us in Afghanistan.
“And yet, doubtlessly, in his much ballyhooed speech set for 24 hours from now, on December 1, 2009, President Obama will blame the Bush administration for forcing him to take these actions.”
This has the virtue of being true.
And let’s not forget social issues (particularly LGBT rights, though his lack of leadership on Stupak-Pitts vs. Capps is notable). He earned my vote over McCain when he nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the USSC, but the more time passes, the more I wish we’d had that fantasy Russ Feingold candidacy.
Deb very good article.
We are seeing no real change.
The economy is in total despair despite what Wall Street wants everyone to believe. Dow up and unemployment up even higher.
The troop count in Iraq is still strong. We will be there forever.
We have seen few if any real alternative energy infrastructure changes. The NRC is talking about letting new nuclear power plants. Where are all the new hydro and wind mills.
We will not prosecute anyone who used torture. They are now allowed to use the Nuremburg Defense.
Guantanamo will be open forever. We see no point in closing it.
We can spy on our people without a warrant. Never prosecute anyone for illegal wiretapping.
He is looking like he picked up the Bush Legacy and continued the same unconstitutional pattern of failure.
Well, we can look forward to Sarah Palin in 2012. It really fits the Mayan 2012 prophecy. Run to the Hills. Run for your life…
So how do we all ban together to overthrow the 2 party system and bring freedom and justice back to America?
Deborah, I think you are being unnecessarily hard on the president. With only ten months in office he is losing his core support base faster than frost melts in the morning sun, yet he plows on. He is no longer in a tugboat. Instead he’s piloting a much larger craft. I think he once made the comparison to changing the direction of an aircraft carrier. It is changing direction but the change will not be nimble or abrupt.
Tom Watson’s take on the speech is worth a look.
This war in Afghanistan is Barack Obama’s war, and he traveled to West Point to boldly claim that ownership before some of the young men and women who may soon face death under the terms of his order.
President Obama’s team, transported nearly whole from its triumphant political campaign, has a sure-handed mastery of the image, the words, the brand. So there was no mistaking any intention whatsoever in tonight’s speech upon the Hudson – and any continued carping about inherited warfare and the failed policies of a predecessor in office conflicts with the image of strength and decisiveness the President projected at the U.S. Military Academy.
To put it bluntly: he was not forced into this decision. The failures of the opposition party are no longer all that relevant to what happens now. The Afghanistan policy – more fully understood, in my view, as the Pakistan-Afghanistan policy – is the Obama Administration’s policy. It is not some moth-eaten hand-me-down hybrid forced on a unwilling President.
Liberals, who have long deluded themselves into believing Obama was a fellow traveler (in John Heileman’s words), have got to find a way to accept this – to understand that President Obama is both the best and the brightest and a practical centrist to the core of his being. (This stands in stark contrast, of course, to the sheer lunacy of the hard right, which insists on branding the Administration as socialist). Progressives who somehow intuited an anti-war politician, a near-pacifist, based on Obama’s opposition to Bush’s Iraq misadventure must finally understand that this is a President who won’t shy away from ordering military action.
He’s right. After last night Obama owns the whole damn mess and is not looking back. He took his time eating this elephant, but he’s getting it down — one bite at a time. After last night there;s no pushing back from the table claiming he has no more appetite left.
I have no illusions about US forces abroad. In the same way that I put in almost a year and a half in Korea well over a decade after THAT mess stopped boiling and “cooled” to a simmer, I fully expect my grandchildren to be paying taxes to support uniformed American troops all over the place, including Iraq and Afghanistan.
US troop levels in Korea, Germany, the Balkans, Okinawa, and other places not making the news are still substantial. Last time I heard a number for South Korea it was about thirty thousand-plus, only about twenty thousand less than when I was there over forty years ago. There is no reason to think South Asia will be different.
We didn’t build a fortress compound in Baghdad bigger than the Vatican just to hand it over to the Iraqis unless they continue to be the puppets we expect them to be. These are not easy words to write, but realpolitick is neither neat nor sanitary. Despite the snap and glitter, military matters are among mankind’s bloodiest, most disgusting activities.
The Afghanistan enterprise is a continuation of global empire-maintenance. The brand on the box is American. But like something from Walmart, check the label closely and find it was made in China, Mexico or elsewhere. The president may claim ownership of that war, but by doing so he is wearing the international hat of leader of what we like to call the “free world.” (Another misnomer, but don’t get me started.)
I love this administration, according to Valerie Jarrett everything is a crisis. I dont know one single person that thinks we had a “health care crisis” before this admin staked its legacy on it. WHA WHA WHA Cry me a river Val. She being the person that us all the great Van Jones. LOL