The "Failed" Presidency? Not So Much...

Republicans always preface their language with the word,"failed'.  It is always the "failed presidency" or the "failed" economic policy.  Obviously, if they all say it enough it will become a fact unless the media calls them on it.  Sadly, they rarely do. Republicans are masters of manipulating the masses and use every propaganda technique available to sway public opinion.

Now that the Obama Administration has knocked off another Al Qaida operative, al Awlaki, the threat of a terrorist attack is extremely diminished.  He has made the country and the world, for that matter, that much safer and we owe him a debt of gratitude.  What the Obama administration did in two years, the Republicans couldn't do in eight years.  The difference is Obama made it a priority while, for Bush, it was unimportant.  Obama's foreign policy is far from a failure.  Aside from the victory over Al Qaida, his highly criticized support of the downfall of Gadhafi has proven to be a success.  He continues to support Israel as every other president has done but you would never know it by the response of the far right here and in Israel.  Iran is increasingly isolated while the Russians continue to reduce their nuclear arsenal.  He is keeping his word on Iraq and Afghanistan, two very serious wars he inherited.  Maybe we are asking too much of this President, maybe we are asking for perfection.  He is not Jesus.
Obama's economic policy is far from a failed policy.  Private sector jobs have grown every month since his policies were put into place.  About half of Americans are invested in the Stock Market which has doubled since the Great Recession.  If it weren't for the default threat in Europe, the Japanese tsunami, and a number of other natural disasters we have encountered, the market would be even higher!  Obama single-handedly saved the auto industry and actually made money for the taxpayers when the loans were paid back.  Even the bailout of the financial institutions made money for the taxpayers.

We are expecting far too much from the recovery from this recession in which eight million jobs were lost.  It is childlike to think that we could have recovered faster.  When you view this in the backdrop of the Tea Party victory in 2010, it is amazing we are doing as well as we are.  The Republican obstructionists have completely unhinged the recovery.  Their cuts to government have resulted in millions of lost jobs in the public sector.  These are middle class jobs in state and local government, education, law enforcement, clerical positions, etc.  While these middle class jobs are gone, they stubbornly insist on preserving the tax cuts for the wealthy.  It is nothing short of immoral for the poor and middle class to be punished for the antics of the financial industry.  The insult is that Republicans want to do away with regulations when it was the lack of regulations that got us into this mess!

Why are we not hearing about the failed policy of the tax-cutting Republican Tea Baggers?  After all, we ultimately will have twelve years of the Bush tax cuts and that has not created the kind of jobs growth we need to fully recover.  In fact, job growth has slowed since the Tea Party victory of 2010.  So where are the jobs?  The wealthy job creators have made record profits because of lower taxes, but have not produced the jobs.  That sounds like class warfare against the poor and middle class to me, and we are losing the war!

So the next time you hear anyone say this president is a failure, call them on it.  Certainly, not everything he has done has been a complete success, but we are much better off than when he took office.  If he had a cooperative Congress, we would be in much better shape.  It is our inability to function as a governemnt that is causing the lack of confidence in this country and around the world.  We are heading for a double dip if the Republicans continue to win in the next election.  God help us all.  Wake up America!

Obama Beats the Alternative

Yes, I'm disappointed in Obama.  He is not an FDR, he is not a leader of men.  He is not what we respect in America.  He is not a cowboy, he is not arrogant, he is not a "my way or the highway" kind of guy.  But look at the alternative.

Republicans are very good at criticizing, obstructing, and mocking the President, prefacing everything he has done as," failed".  But what do they offer as an alternative?  Tax cuts do not grow the economy or create jobs.  Give a middle class person a tax cut and it gets absorbed into the cost of gasing up their car, paying off credit card debt, paying for thier increase in health insurance, or catching up on a mortgage payment.  Those are all helpful but they do not create jobs.  The extra money doesn't buy a new car or refrigerator it just makes the insurance, banking, and oil industries richer. Trickle down economics doesn't work.  So if you look beyond their simplistic tax cut philosophy, what else do they have?  Less government, cutting the social safety net when people need it the most, and breaking unions which directly affects the middle class workers, all result in cutting jobs for the middle class worker.  This, in turn, lowers demand locally and has a ripple effect on the small businesses throughout the country.You can give a small businessman all the tax cuts in the world but if demand is not there, he is not going to expand his business.

 We need to grow our way out of this deficit, but large corporations are sitting on trillions in profits watching our nation go down the drain.  Obama has been handcuffed by the Republican House because they control the purse strings.  They've got him boxed in and by capitulating to them he has become impotent as a leader.  We have lost faith in our President when we most need him but he really is the only game in town.  There is no alternative unless you want to see this country, and the world for that matter, fall into a deep, dark abyss.

It is simply counterproductive to trash Obama at this point in time.  We appear to be a dysfunctional government as the rest of the world looks to us for solutions.  Consumer confidence is also negatively impacting our economy because of the lack of cooperation between Democrats and Republicans.  We are shooting ourselves in the foot because of the politics of obstruction.  Republican know if they can play rope-a-dope for the next few months, Obama will be blamed for what they have created.  In the meantime, how many more people will slip into poverty, lose their homes, or go bankrupt? 


  So I'm disappointed, but he still beats the alternative.  Stop bashing Obama and start to realize that the opposing party is devoid of ideas, heartless, and will dismantle government which will turn us into a third world country in a decade.  Wake up America!