The chief of staff reportedly is stifling Obama's progressive impulses in the bid to corral support from centralist Democrats. America also doesn’t care if David Axelrod is a wet noodle, muddling the message about the promise of Obama. We don’t much care for reports about political in-fighting and aides "stabbing Obama in the back" via various intrigues and treacheries.
America put Obama into office to get the job done. That includes a return to financial stability, healthcare reform, progress on global warming, job creation, improving U.S. image overseas, exiting Iraq and figuring out Afghanistan. Except dithering, nothing has been delivered.The president today visited Pennsylvania and told a cheering audience that it was good to be outside Washington.
That's a standard line for all struggling politicians who are going nowhere real fast. D.C. is exactly where Obama should be 24/7, ironing out a healthcare bill ASAP. Too much time and energy already has been wasted.
Healthcare bipartisanship is a sham. Obama's healthcare summit was a charade. Everyone knows Republicans will sneer at anything the president puts on the healthcare reform table. GOPers say they will retaliate if Democrats try to "ram healthcare through" Congress. So be it. Ramming is exactly what Democrats must do. Healthcare reform is but one of the major issues facing the White House. It's time to fish or cut bait.
President Obama entered the White House with favorable comparisons to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Saddled with the Great Recession, Americans looked to Obama to craft an ambitious plan to put Americans back to work and get the economy rolling. Obama’s $787B economic stimulus plan turned out to be a half-measure. He knows it, but lacks the fight and spirit of FDR to bash political heads and deliver what is needed by the army of America’s unemployed and legions of underemployed. President Bush, who bailed out his banker constituency, took care of his own. Obama hasn't taken care of anybody. The President also was once compared to John F. Kennedy, one who brought vision and enthusiasm to Washington. After a year in office, where is Obama leading us?
Obama ran on a promise of change. So far, it's been "more of the same." The American Civil Liberties Union has illustrated how many are “shocked and concerned” with Obama’s failure to “change the Bush-Cheney policies and restore America’s values of justice and due process.” It ran a devastating ad in the New York Times yesterday that has Obama morphing into George W. Bush.
Environmental groups, labor unions, uninsured families, jobless people, human rights workers and health advocates could have run their own versions of the ACLU ad to expresses their distress over the President’s first year in office.
During his primary campaign dogfight with Hillary Clinton, Obama was best under pressure. The pressure is now on. It's time to stand for something and deliver.