So we’re almost three years into the Obama Presidency and the question must be asked. Is he the right guy for the job; maybe, maybe not.
In order to answer that question intelligently we have to go back to 2007 and the time leading up to the election and take a look at what was going on in the country, what had already transpired and who was in the race.
We were in the last throes of the Bush administration, the country was reeling under the weight of two major wars, a world class catastrophe in New Orleans, administratively sanctioned violations of the constitution and international arrogance on a monumental scale. We had offended all our allies and we had denied due process to many of our citizens, as our leaders thumbed their noses at the people, the law and the constitution and, oh yeah, the Veep had shot his friend in the face.
The country was desperate; the voters seemed ready to elect anyone who appeared even vaguely cognizant of the world around him and not blinded by the hubris that seemed to be the model of Bush & Cheney.
Obama looked like that guy. He was a very smart guy, not blinded by his own self- importance who looked to be able to bring about the kind of balance necessary to reorganize our country into a single viable whole. Unlike Bush /Cheney he was ready to reach out to the other side and actually govern the country by trying to create a bi-partisan atmosphere that could lead to solving what, at that time, appeared to be the preeminent problems we faced as a nation. Of course that natural tendency to cooperate and involve others would turn out to be his biggest problem.
He was faced in the election by John McCain, also an intelligent man who bore the banner of hero to great acclaim and who was, it seemed, highly electable. Unfortunately for his candidacy McClain had two huge obstacles in his way. The first was his own party and their failure to abandon the unpopular policies of Bush/Cheney as well as their failure of enthusiasm for his chances of winning. This failure allowed them to falter and create his second problem when they forced an unelectable vice presidential candidate on him, a candidate who crippled any chance he had of getting anything but the nut vote. The problem was that McCain was not in great health and the prospect of having Sara Palin succeed him in the White House made all but the most insane fanatics abandon his cause.
So Obama rode in on a tidal wave of popularity and everything looked like it might work out. That’s when the game changed. What hadn’t been apparent during the pre-election and election periods; was that there were much bigger problems than the ones outlined above. In fact there was a problem that made all the others look insignificant. The economy was about to tank, and in the coming months, nothing else would come anywhere near that level of national significance.
There was another problem and it was almost as big; bigger if you consider that it has, so far, kept anyone from solving the problem of the economy. That problem was that the Republicans themselves, who, in a replay of the Clinton years, were gathering their wagons to fight the elected president, rather than the nation’s problems. They didn’t care that Obama had been elected by a margin that could only be considered a mandate, especially considering that he is a black in a country still overflowing with bigotry. All they cared about was bringing his presidency to its knees. This may be the most un-American position of any organization since the Ku Klux Klan.
In any case, despite Obama’s progress on the international front, mending fences with our allies and even making some slight progress with some of our enemies, the Republicans have been far too successful in blocking his domestic policies with respect to job creation and rebuilding the economy. His two shinning victories, the healthcare bill and Dodd/Frank have been attacked even after they became law, with the Republicans trying relentlessly to reduce them to useless hulks of what they were meant to be. As of right now job numbers and any progress on infrastructure are all but dead in the water. So what happened?
What happened was that we elected a mediator to do the job of reconnecting to the other nations of the world, of ending two endless wars that were killing our country, to get our own priorities back on track with the Constitution and American sensibilities and as soon as he gained office the whole world turned around and we had a whole new set of priorities that because of the political opposition needed a whole different kind of president.
This is not the time for mediation or conciliation. You can’t mediate with short sighted, obstinate fools whose only agenda is to force you out of office. This is the time for a man with a large club who knows how to swing it to bludgeon the opposition into submission. Right now the Republicans are playing hardball and Obama is playing badminton. He can’t reason with the likes of Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl or Mike Pence. They don’t have the wherewithal to function on that intellectual level. Besides, these guys don’t really care about the country. Like any bunch of mob thugs, all they care about is achieving their own selfish ends.
Of course the problem doubles when you look at the Democratic congress, a useless bunch of do nothings, looking only to their own reelection. At least the Republicans are willing to go down in flames, championing their own ridiculous and ruinous positions. The Democrats seemingly have no positions other than whatever gets them reelected. I absolutely understand the Tea Party’s desire to throw them all out. The problem is that you have to replace them with people, who have at least a modicum of intelligence, and that isn’t what happened in 2010. The Teabaggers ran a platform of idiots, freaks and clowns and it looks like they’re going to do the same thing in 2012.
So before we answer the question, I think we have to give Obama one last chance to take control of the situation. God knows, we gave Bush a second chance and he didn’t even understand it. Obama has to realize that no matter how much he wants to, he can’t treat the hard right of the Republican party like sentient human beings, simply because they’re not. If he really wants to achieve the solutions to unemployment and the deficit he has to find ways to bully the Republicans into a corner and then pound them to their knees. It is, after all, the only kind of treatment they understand. If he can’t do this, he will lose and the country will lose, maybe not in 2012 but certainly in regard to his place in history.
It’s tragic; he could already be considered one of the great presidents in our history if he only had to face the circumstances that he was elected to confront. Let’s see if he’s also got the ability to adjust to the circumstances and surmount the even more steep challenges that actually confront him now. The country will be better for his success. It is already suffering from his lack of same.