President Obama is more and more emphasizing the politics of patience as he tries to maintain the trust and support of the American people. It is still quite uncertain if this will work - polls show mounting anxiety about Obama's policies including his $787 billion stimulus package. This stimulus package has not had as big impact so far as was his original plan. The outlandish spending has pushed the federal deficit to the remarkable level of more than $1 trillion this year.
What is startling to many voters is that unemployment keeps climbing upward. It has hit 9.5 percent, the highest mark in over 25 years and I still predict the rate to hit 11 percent in the next 3 or 4 months. Obama and his advisers had predicted that his stimulus package would hold unemployment at or below 8 percent. Was he too ambitious? Did he rush this package out without enough research and understanding just to show he was capable of moving quickly?
Last week, Obama's leaning to more patience became quite apparent. While pushing for immediate congressional action on healthcare, he admitted there isn't a cure all. He is now willing to accept that this Healthcare Bill will not be voted on before the Congress breaks for the summer recess.
While speaking to reporters in Washington, he spoke some of the unemployment rate: "This has been a more severe recession than we've seen since the Great Depression, so how unemployment numbers are going to respond is not yet clear. My expectation is that we will probably continue to see unemployment tick up for several months. And the challenge for this administration is to make sure that even as we are stabilizing the financial system, we understand that the most important thing in the economy is: Are people able to find good jobs that pay good wages?"
While speaking in Michigan, which is has been hit by the nation's highest jobless rate of 15.2 percent, Obama said he inherited such a mess that it will take a long time before the overall economy shows much improvement. He claimed he is an activist and his Republican critics as do-nothing complainers. "I love these folks who helped get us into this mess and then suddenly say, 'Well, this is Obama's economy,' " the president argued. "That's fine—give it to me. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and carp and gripe." This mess we are in goes back quite far and is not all the fault of the Republicans. Many of the policies followed plans made by the Clinton administration while he was in office.
What the Democrats are worried about is that the unemployment rate in several key states—including Michigan, Ohio, Florida, and Indiana—has already soared to well over 10 percent, and they know the big fear is that this is an indication of things to come nationally. Republicans and some economist go further, arguing that these states show that Obama's prescriptions are not only failing but are starting to make matters worse.
Some Americans do understand that it took us years to get into this mess, and it will take a while to get us out. But there is a growing number of Americans that are much more restless and anxious than Obama once thought. A recent CBS News poll shows that sixty percent of Americans say Obama's stimulus package has made no difference in the economy, 21 percent say it has had a positive impact, and 15 percent say it has made the economy worse. Fifty-seven percent say the country is on the wrong track, up from 50 percent in June.
The President is also asking for more time to solve several other problems. He is now urging for more patience in Afghanistan, where his surge of troops and more aggressive combat operations against terrorists are increasing casualties and the cost. This is now becoming more his war, just as Iraq was George Bush’s. He is asking for patience in Iran, wanting now to carefully evaluate the new reform movement before doing anything more dramatic. He wants patience in dealing with immigration, which he has now put on the back burner in Congress because of deep divisions over the issue. He is begging for patience in dealing with the tensions and hatreds between Israel and the Palestinians. He wants more understanding of why Gitmo will not be closing down quite as soon as he had promised it would. Is he now just starting to realize to complexities of running this country? Does he understand now that he needs to evaluate things more carefully before rushing into something blind? I have mentioned many times before he needs to slow down and smell the roses, sit back and evaluate before just doing something. He wanted to show us he could accomplish things quickly, but in the process he has created more of a mess.
A boss once told me it is better to do something and ask for forgiveness later. That may work for small things, but sometimes it is better to examine the angles and make sure what you do gets’ done right. There is less of a mess and things tend to go more smoothly.
Ed Gillespie, a prominent GOP strategist and former White House counselor to President George W. Bush said about Obama: "he has got to stop overpromising and underperforming." The fear in the White House is that many more Americans are starting to notice the difference. Many of Obama’s supporters said he would do wonders - well he has - he has spent more in 6 months than all of the other’s combined. What does this do to our future when the American Taxpayer has to repay all this in a few years. When the middle class again see their taxes increase, the backbone of America beaten down again. Again just my opinion – My Explosion of Thought!
No comments:
Post a Comment