The crowning achievement of the infant Obama Administration, the $787B economic stimulus program, gets the thumbs-up by little more than half (52 percent) of Americans. A bold prediction: Obama’s ratings will continue southward as he struggles with healthcare reform, financial regulatory overhaul, global warming, energy, North Korea, Iran and Afghanistan during extremely tough economic times.Obama's biggest problem: disaffected supporters who are devastated by his failure to attempt to achieve lofty campaign promises. "Yes, we can" has morphed into "No, we can't."
Obama promised to make a difference. He was to be a change-maker. Morality was going to be Job 1 at the White House. Instead, America got the reincarnation of George W. Bush. "Albeit, a George W. Bush who can speak a complete sentence," writes the esteemed Joe Galloway of McClatchy.
What happened? Wasn't Obama going to restore dignity to Washington, a place corrupted by torture and tarnished for waging an unnecessary war? Those responsible for those policies have been given a free pass by the current President. Whatever happened to Superman’s quest for truth, justice and the American way? Superman must have been downsized by the depression.
Obama vowed to pull out of Iraq. Instead, we face the old switcheroo. Rather than winding down America's military presence in the Middle East, Obama digs deeper into the morass of Afghanistan while Osama bin Laden bides his time in Pakistan. As the Iraq quagmire will be remembered as part of Bush's legacy, Afghanistan is now Obama's war.
What about openness and transparency? They are two more casualties. Obama is fending off demands for White House logs of energy lobbyists who dropped by to chat. Lobbyists and corporations have every right to petition their government. That's not a problem. The problem: Obama and Democrats are two-faced about releasing logs because they made huge political mileage from charging then-Vice President Cheney for holding secret sessions with the boys of Big Oil.
What about eavesdropping on U.S. citizens, another rap on Bush? The New York Times ran a front-page eye-opener June 17 that said the National Security Agency is routinely collecting the calls and emails of millions of Americans. It’s business as usual.
Obama scores high points in the personal likability department, just as Bush was said to be a guy one would like to have a beer with. That doesn’t mean Obama will deliver on his promise.
Was that promise of Obama real or something cooked up by his handlers to win an election?
(Image via reobama)