Enid News and Eagle
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Everyone is jumping on the Obama analysis bandwagon, so of course, I have to get on board, too.
It’s the one-year anniversary since President Barack Obama was inaugurated into office as a change agent -- a man who was seen by the voters as being able to overcome stereotypes and party politics.
Let me start off by saying right off the bat the expectations for the president were unreasonable. He is not Superman, and he is not the Messiah.
He was elected as a man with a vision who believed he could effect positive changes that will transcend traditional partisan politics. Everyone says they want positive change and bi-partisan effort -- as long as that change and effort agree with THEIR personal perspective on things.
There’s a saying we use in business, and its a saying that has a lot of merit. “It’s better to under-promise and over-deliver than over-promise and under-deliver.”
Obama started out with a lot of big promises that were going to be difficult to fulfill unless all the star aligned in the right way. He should have known better to make such promises entering into an economic recession that still has not recovered and may not recover for quite some time.
So, he has set himself and his party up for some fallout. And he’s run smack dab into a brick wall with the American people on health care reform.
My assessment of the president’s first year is mixed, like most reasonable peoples’ assessment.
On domestic issues, he has certainly moved some things forward farther than they’ve moved before. He has a bully pulpit and a Congress that is in his party’s favor. In having that combination, it would seem he could get his agenda moving quite well. However, what he and the Democratic leaders seem to have forgotten is people of this nation honor fairness. They honor and appreciate people who are reasonable and who compromise.
With health care reform, the people have been against this overregulation and takeover of their health care from day one. He earns an “F” mark from me on this issue. Instead of listening to the people, the administration and Democratic leadership chose instead to demean the people by calling them zealous and rabble-rousers. They chose to close the doors on the process. The president made his biggest mistake by handing it all over to Sen. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. I can’t understand his hands-off approach to what he says is the most important legislation of his administration. That’s not how it works, and I think he’s starting to understand that.
Health care reform can be salvaged and it can be a good package if he listens to those who are in the trenches and who understand economics. If the Massachusetts senate race is lost for the Democrats or even close, it will send a very big signal and hopefully will give Obama an excuse to hit the “reset” button and start all over with health care reform.
On other domestic issues, such as the overall economy, the president has probably earned a “C” in my book. I have to tell you, I am not for bailing out companies. I’m not for protecting Wall Street shenanigans. But, I also believe that the previous Congress is much to blame for the housing blow-up that led to the recession. They were informed of problems, and they chose to ignore those problems.
The president followed the actions of the Bush administration in trying to shore up these businesses. I still think the jury’s out on whether those were good decisions or not; however, we don’t have bread and soup lines. It may have been a very short-term fix, but the bleeding did subside.
However, the president has failed miserably in addressing the number one economic recovery issue, and that is jobs. His social agenda with health care reform, cap and trade and tax penalties is putting the kibosh on business growth and development. He doesn’t seem to understand it, and his subordinates don’t get it either because most of the have never run a business. You create jobs by creating a positive atmosphere for business growth. Taxes and more government regulation don’t create a positive atmosphere for business growth.
The one area where I believe the president has done fairly well is with international affairs. I’d give him a solid “B.” I know many are irritated at his “apology tours,” but I think he’s made the right decisions on a number of fronts -- Iraq troop reduction, closing of Gitmo and increasing troops in Afghanistan. I also think he’s reasonable and correct in setting a timeline for Afghanistan, as long as all understand the flexibility of that timeline. He has to make assurances to the American people that we have to see if the other stakeholders in this thing do their part.
The main thing the president can to do redeem himself and his party is to move back to the center. Perhaps he had a strategy to do as much of his “real” agenda in the first year -- which is a very far left agenda. It hasn’t worked, and its really hurt the Democratic Party.
One year doesn’t define a president; however, I can only hope the president has learned enough to know that governing from the far left has alienated everyone but the fringe left of his party.
