On President Obama
Submitted by J Boogie [TLL] on Wednesday, 11 March 2009Comments
President Obama has ascended to power with much fanfare, and for good reason. His rise was meteoric. He was a junior senator before he became President. He is African American (though still half white). He is well spoken, considerate in his speech, basically everything that Bush had not been for the past 8 years. I am a very big Obama supporter. I hope with all sincerity that his policies succeed, and that he rubs it in the faces of the masses of Republicans who doubted him. But as much of a superstar as he is, President Obama is far from infallible. He has made mistakes, and one of the biggest problem he has faced is getting people to the positions he wants them in. His vetting process has been particularly troublesome. To date, President Obama has lost X number candidates (who knows how many wont get to their desired positions) who have withdrawn for various reasons. The most recent being Charles Freeman, who was Obama’s candidate to head the National Intelligence Counsel. Prior to that, Obama lost Bill Richardson to a grand jury investigation into some questionable state contract practice, Tom Daschle, Nany Killefer and Judd Gregg. The vetting process has been poorly applied to any candidate that Obama has nominated. Perhaps it is the fault of the country, for allowing the hype to could our judgment. Just because Obama has won the Presidency doesn’t mean he is going to be impervious to human error. And there is no greater place where people can make mistakes than in personal judgment. Obviously, this applies to Obama since so many of his nominees have not filled their positions. As a country, we can’t simply rest our hopes in one man to save this nation. For the same reason, we can’t blindly follow the President’s word, just because we may like the guy and want to see him succeed. When has blind faith ever worked out (hint hint)?
We were a questioning and politically active populace when we realized that President Bush’s policies were failing. We scrutinized his every move, and watched carefully as Bush made blunder after blunder. This practice of scrutiny must be continued and applied to President Obama. He advocates many things passionately, such as health care reform and the bailouts, and we must be cautious. We do know that deregulation does not work, but we will see if Obama’s vision for big government does in due time. But we can’t just sit by idly. To do so would be to abandon the very mentality that got us to this historic position in the first place. Republicans scrutinize the President for all the wrong reasons. They are working on a platform that seeks to stir up the extremist right, and to achieve as much damage to the Democratic party as possible. Thus, their scrutiny stems from their distaste for liberal ideas, and for their goal of having the President fail. We should scrutinize the President in order for him to know that just because we elected him, doesn’t mean we will be sheep. He must always hear what the American people have to say about him and his policies. We have to ensure that he stays our President, one who works for our well being. We can’t have another Bush, let free to do as he pleases. Not that President Obama would ever become such a leader.
To President Obama, who will never read these words, I hope for your success, as your success will also be mine as well. But don’t think for a minute that we wont question your judgment, or voice our opinions if you act out of line. We have had enough of that. But I think the President wouldn’t want it any other way.
-TLL
