Just a little over one year ago President Obama was sworn into office. I remember having to get up extra early that morning and catch the metro across the river into DC to get to work. I got to the station near my apartment around 5 in the morning and traffic was already backed up noticably in both directions as folks hoped to get a good spot on the mall for the show. There was a definite buzz for those that expected big things from the President and with this kind of atmosphere it was even predicted that Republicans would be in a political wilderness for a generation. One year and some piss poor governing later the polticial pendulum has swung so far so quickly that we recently saw the election of Scott Brown from Mass. to the Senate.
To put that into contex, Mass. has not elected a Republican to the Senate since 1972, and not since 1966 has a Republcan won in an open election. In this past year we saw an second stimulus forced on this nation with the promise from the white house being that unemployment wouldn't go above 8%. It reached 10%. We saw our President go on a apology tour as he went to multiple european nations and seemingly humbled himself and our nation apologizing for many things that frankly, Americans were not sorry for, or felt that with that apology Obama should have also reminded those leaders of the immense positive impact that America has had on the world. We have seen our President dither, yes dither, for three months about what to do with Afghanistan after his hand picked General sent his advice to him. His answer was to take the most politically expediant solution by sending 30,000 troops to Aghanistan, 10,000 short of what McCrystal asked for and already setting an 18 month deadline for our beginning withdrawl from Afghanistan. In chosing this solutioin he has put our military behind the 8 ball in a war that is critical for us to win in the global war on terrorism.
And of course we come to healthcare. Here again the President sought to have Congress give him something, anything they could use by the end of the year. Sadly for him and for America what we got was a bill that mandated health coverage for all and penalized those that did not get insurance. It gave breaks to Obama supporters while leving heavier taxes against those that don't. It skipped tort reform and didn't allow for health insurance companies to work across state lines. More and more Americans turned against this bill again and again all the while a seemingly tone deaf Congress worked on passage of this bill. Only this Tuesday with a GOP win in the bluest state in the country has seemed to finally jar them awake to the massive opposition to this bill. Even than though, some dems have pledged "full steam ahead." Luckily some Senators like Jim Webb and Even Bayh have more common sense and this bill will be revised or ultimatley shelved.
All this in one year has left us with little doubt that Obama's first year in office has been a failure. 2010 is a chance to regroup and redeem himself, but starting out it kindly looks like it will actually be a year that vindicates many things that libs criticised President Bush for. Take GITMO for example, Obama and leftist know nothings thought they could close it in a year. For whatever reason they figured this would be easy because afterall, Bush only kept them there because he doesn't beleive in fairness to terrorists. One year later only about 40 prisoners have either been released or transfered leaving 200 detainees in the prison. The Obama administration has learned, gasp, that their are dangerous people there and that GITMO, while not ideal is exactly what the Bush admin described as the "best of a lot of bad options." As it stands it appears that it will take another year to close GITMO. Perhaps they should just consider keeping it open.
Lastly we come to the economy. The Obama admin is always quick to note how bad it was when they got there and that all the ills should be placed on Bush's doorstep and that all the gains are the workings of Obama, praise be to his name. It is a refocus on this that the Dems first hope to regain some momentum this year, but they sure are doing it in an odd way by very openly talking about EXTENDING BUSH'S TAX CUTS. While just talks right now if that move was taken it would certainly seem to be an admision that tax cuts help spur an economy's recovery, and of course, vindicate Bush's economic policies. That, along with GITMO, also seems to vindicate two policies that the left commonly derided Bush and Republicans in general. Let us hope that they take this tact and that our economy recovers and that those unemployed will find work. Given the current circumstances though, the Dems could go in any such direction.
Whew, shitty write up i know, but hopefully y'all cut me a break on this one.
-Zach
No comments:
Post a Comment