THE STATE OF THE UNION – IT AIN’T GOOD

THE STATE OF THE UNION – IT AIN’T GOOD

After saying everyone is sick of politics I can’t resist speaking about it anyway given the results of the November election. The main reason people are angry is the economy. We are a long ways from the thrill of electing the first black president and who was thoughtful, dignified and a decent man. The slow pace of Obama job replacement and the housing crisis fuel the discontent. While his efforts at the health bill were appropriate he should have waited until the economy had recovered. The amount of concessions made to get it passed resulted in everyone complaining about the final product.

It would seem that Mr. Obama’s silver tongue has been replaced by a tin ear because he doesn’t seem to hear what American’s are saying. In September Gallup polls found a majority of people approved the reform of financial institutions, but did not approve of the rescue of financial systems, nor the stimulus package, the bail out of car companies or the health reform bill. The number who approve his handling of the economy dropped to 38% in a CBS poll. While Mr. Obama blames Republicans from blocking everything the Republicans claim that they "are the only adults in a room at a reckless liberal blowout on the taxpayer’s dime."

I might point out, however, that it was George Bush who pushed through TARP with Republican support, all of whom now say they are sorry and made a mistake. However, it’s the Democrats who are blamed for this Republican give away. Americans are disappointed in Mr. Obama’s caution while in office. They expected a much more bolder approach to fulfilling his campaign promises that got him elected. Given his passion, they believed he would be aggressive regarding the economy, getting us out of Afghanistan and the closure of Guantanamo which are a few of the promises that languish. He never made a serious push to solve the immigration issue. He failed to come through at the Copenhagen summit on global warming as promised in the campaign. Americans voted hope over experience and they are disappointed. If you throw in the failure of Democratic legislators to act boldly and instead became lap dogs of Republicans, then you have a perfect storm of discontent. No wonder people talked about not voting in the November elections. Here you have a devastating loss in the House and a whopping loss of sixty one seats by Democrats, only to have them re-elect Nancy Pelosi by a vote of 150 to 43. Pelosi was a lightening rod for attacks on Democratic candidates and she was expected to do the right thing by stepping aside. But, she showed her true colors and stunned political watchers, by insisting on not stepping aside. You can understand the general feeling of what difference does it make which party is in office when they are all the same after they are elected?

Now we have a Republican majority in house, elected because the public is angry and want action. We'll see. While they claim they will work to pass helpful legislation we all know that’s the big political lie. Their tactics will be "my way or the highway" and I see a lock down in Congress. Their main goal to make sure a Democrat and Mr.Obama in particular is not elected to office. Nor can we expect this lame duck group now in office to do anything meaningful as they leave office. It’s really hard not to be cynical given the state of things today. So long as politics is money nothing will change.  We have one of the most political  U.S. Supreme courts in memory carrying out their political agenda including their approval of secret political donations and When millions are needed to get elected, then the golden rule applies: "He with the gold, makes the rules" Lets face it, big money controls politics in American today because legislators need to dance to the tune of the one paying. Sad, but true.

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