That Hopey Changey Thing

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama

I recently posted regarding our current situation in America. Some saw it as pessimistic, cynical and without a bright outlook for the future. I saw it as a inventory of our sins that has lead to our current situation. These were the conditions inherited by President Obama.

Before I start, I am going to anticipate a common confutation. Bush’s administration is over and Obama has been President for the last 3 years. In the Soviet Union, they had a trend that occurred when a party leader fell from favor from the party. The leader disappeared from the public eye and was not heard from again. Apparently, G.W. Bush has had the same phenomenon with the Republican Party. Contrary to Republican expediency, erasing him from history isn’t as easy as you may think. His legacy still remains.

I knew this was going to be a tough time for us all. I posted in my own blog about this right after Obama’s election. Let’s review some of the top promises that haven’t been fulfilled to the satisfaction of Obama’s critics:

• Guantanamo Bay hasn’t been closed. This was another mess inherited from Bush. The Guantanamo Bay Detention Center was a fiasco that was assumed incorrectly to be beyond the reach of the U.S. Constitution. This is going to continue to be difficult to unravel and no one is offering solutions to this. Though we already have extracted all the information we can get from them, we don’t know how to unload the most dangerous of the prisoners while keeping them from being a further threat to our troops.
• Foreign Policy. This was an area where he received the most criticism during his 2008 campaign. Despite wins with bin Laden, Iraq and Libya; Obama has had the sense not to go all in with unwinnable situations such as the Israel/Palestinian impasse. He has shown outstanding courage with Pakistan despite it being a nuclear power.
• Obama promised change and an end to business as usual in Washington. Obama promised The Change We Need not the change that makes us feel warm and fuzzy. His attempts to reach across the aisle in Congress have been rejected by both sides of the aisle.
• TARP and the Stimulus were supposed to restart the economy. This claim was never made by either Bush or Obama. The economy went into toxic shock when credit froze at the end of 2008. TARP and the Stimulus were nothing more than life support for the economy until the private sector could recover enough to grow the economy. Unfortunately, the private sector has been DOA with nothing but excuses and no real American productivity.
• The Obama administration has been spending wildly. There have been some Obama initiatives that have had high price tags. These have not been the long term litany of unfunded programs that have been passed under the Bush administration which include the protracted military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush tax cuts, Medicare Part D and the $1.5 trillion budget deficit that was passed on. The Bush administration ran up the credit card. The Obama administration has been left to pay for it.
• The Obama Healthcare Law. This is a campaign promise that has actually been fulfilled and is his landmark achievement. This is something that administrations past have tried for decades and have failed. It has come under fire because it actually requires Americans to take responsibility for their own actions; an apparently great bumper sticker, but an unpopular requirement. We don’t like that it is a hybrid of workable ideas instead of a bunch of fantasy giveaways.
• The Obama administration is leading us into socialism. This is one of my favorites. Bush did the closest thing to socialism when he nationalized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during his administration. The auto industry was subsidized by the government through purchase of GM and Chrysler shares of stock. Although unprecedented, so is the success of the recovery of the American auto industry.
• Obama is doing wealth distribution. Some say this is unfair. A child going to bed hungry because his single mother, despite her holding multiple jobs, can’t afford to feed him is unfair. Focusing on the welfare of the majority middle class at the expense of the few lavishly affluent is democracy in action. We have more guys. We win.

One of the huge demands for the election of 2008 was transparency in government. The secrecy of the Bush administration spurred this because the American people felt that we deserved the truth regarding our security and we should be able to make our own decisions.

It seems that our entire American political landscape consists of a marketing campaign created from sound bites, 140 character mass texting (or Twitter, if you prefer), vitriolic and melodramatic tabloid talk radio, equally scandalous internet memes and 24 hour cable news channels abandoning truth for ratings. We haven’t been able to hear the general public for all the noise. The Republican side is no longer about governance, but about political theater. America has not become more divided. We have just become more uncompromising.

Comments

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the Gitmo thing is Congress's fault, not Obama's. They barred the use of any funds to move people still in custody away from the base, forcing Obama to keep them there until he could find somewhere to release them.

[surferelf.livejournal.com]

I fault him for not calling out those who opposed the transfer of prisoners from Gitmo for being the cowards that they are. I fault him for not shaming those who opposed civilian trials for their lack of faith in the Justice system.

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

Guantanamo Bay hasn’t been closed. This was another mess inherited from Bush. The Guantanamo Bay Detention Center was a fiasco that was assumed incorrectly to be beyond the reach of the U.S. Constitution. This is going to continue to be difficult to unravel and no one is offering solutions to this. Though we already have extracted all the information we can get from them, we don’t know how to unload the most dangerous of the prisoners while keeping them from being a further threat to our troops.

Would they not be a threat if they hadn't been captured in the first place?
(It is nice to see no one is advocating civilian trials anymore.)

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

I'd still argue for civilian trials. There was a time when terrorism was a legal issue. Eric Holder called the civilian, constitutional courts "our best weapon against terror." I'd agree. First, it allows us to see the full evidence against an individual in the light of day - to really understand the threat. If the threat is as great as is claimed, then this is a good thing because it reminds us that it is ongoing, and clarifies the scope in a way that is reliable and tested by opposition counsel. Second, it adheres to the basic rule of law, which is an important point if you're claiming the moral high ground. In a war between jihadists who use suicide bombers, and a military that refuses to adhere to its own law, there are no good guys, only winners and losers. Third, it ensures that terrorists themselves see that our society isn't crumbling into fear-based responses. I know it's cliche, but every time we make some knee-jerk silly decision based on fear, that's a victory for the other side. If the entire point of terrorism is to change our policy through fear, then it looks to me as though they've been succeeding for well over a decade. Our fear of the civilian court system is the most insidious change, because so few people seem to care about it, and its effects will be long-standing and hard to expunge.

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

TARP and the Stimulus were supposed to restart the economy. This claim was never made by either Bush or Obama.

There was a claim however that the stimulus would keep the unemployment rate from going above 8 percent.

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

It was part of a projection made based on information known in January 2009. Obama never made the claim himself. This was done before he became president and didn't know the extent of the damage to the economy. This is what I mean by sound bite messaging.

[surferelf.livejournal.com]

Andrew Sullivan pointed out those claims were made based on an economy shrinking at a rate of 4% when it was actually shrinking closer to 9%. If you knock the starting point down to where it actually was, the stimulus worked as well, perhaps even better than expected.

[korean-guy-01.livejournal.com]

Blame Bush for ObamaFAIL

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

Blame Bush for ObamaFAIL

Just giving credit where credit is due.

[sophia-sadek.livejournal.com]

Why blame Bush when the Tea Party has done so much?

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Clinton was responsible for all of Bush's failures until 2006, at which point they were all Congress's fault. Cry moar.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Physician, heal thyself:

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/200601012_bush_blames_clinton_again/

http://money.cnn.com/2002/08/07/news/economy/bush_cheney/

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2008/07/28/bush-administration-blames-bill-clinton-for-deficit/

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201101070044

But I forget, Republicans have a congenital inability to remember their own statements or to take any responsibility for them.

[mrbogey.livejournal.com]

This comes off to me, as an abused wife making excuses for her husband's abuse.

Obama could shut down Gitmo today. He's the chief executive. Acting as if he doesn't have the power or it's complicated is absurd. He could order the Military to start tribunals today for who they believe fits the bill and transfer the rest to federal civilian custody.

Obama's foreign policy has at best been tepid. He hasn't supported anyone outright and only when the situation becomes obvious does he step in. Has his role in Egypt and Libya done any real good? Not really unless you favor an anarchistic state where the dominant players tend to be anti-American.

And when you get down to finances you're carving the excuses so fine. Obama is responsible for anything Bush may have started and Obama is just continuing, even though as I've previously said Obama could literally order an end today to most of it, then why blame Bush? There were many presidents before Bush all adding to the deficits with their pet programs.

Is the entire historical record of Obama really going to be one long apologia with regards to it being Bush's fault? Because I know I'm not the only one who realizes that would be lame.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about this. Compared to the leaders of the rest of the world, American Presidents have some of the most restrictive limitations on their power. It's part of the reason we're absent from so many international treaties; The PMs/Presidents/etc of other countries can sign them with ease, while we have to wait for the entire legislative process, which is filled with various deadlocks like the filibuster.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Bullshit, when Bush was President he blamed all the evils that happened under him on Clinton until 2006 when it was all the fault of the Congress. Bush's Administration hadn't the moral scruples to take any responsibility for its own actions, preferring to see the Clinton-Mafia behind every dog that got run over under Bush as POTUS. This is the equivalent of the "But Democrats said Bush is Hitler" thing, Republicans accused Clinton of every single failure under Bush until the Dems took control of Congress, so....

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

Obama could shut down Gitmo today. He's the chief executive. Acting as if he doesn't have the power or it's complicated is absurd. He could order the Military to start tribunals today for who they believe fits the bill and transfer the rest to federal civilian custody.

Seems your guys on the House Armed Services Committee disagree with you wholeheartedly (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/us/gop-report-criticizes-transfers-from-guantanamo.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss).

“Despite the earnest and well-meaning efforts by officials in both administrations, properly evaluating detainees and ensuring that their cases were handled appropriately by receiving countries was, and remains, a challenge,” the report said, portraying “domestic political pressures” and a “desire to earn good will abroad” as having led executive branch officials into recklessness.

Obama's foreign policy has at best been tepid. He hasn't supported anyone outright and only when the situation becomes obvious does he step in. Has his role in Egypt and Libya done any real good? Not really unless you favor an anarchistic state where the dominant players tend to be anti-American.

Seen too many G.I. Joe cartoons? Well, you must have considered keeping Quadafi and Mubarek in power a good thing. Obama’s military support of the NATO mission in Libya was done thoughtfully, in a controlled and timely manner. He has shored up a coalition we will need as our military position shifts. Yes. They tend to by anti-American. Your position is to keep them that way?

And when you get down to finances you're carving the excuses so fine. Obama is responsible for anything Bush may have started and Obama is just continuing, even though as I've previously said Obama could literally order an end today to most of it, then why blame Bush? There were many presidents before Bush all adding to the deficits with their pet programs.

Oh. Don’t let me interrupt your wildly unsubstantiated defense of Bush’s unfunded spending. Unless you haven’t noticed, Obama is cleaning up much of Bush’s mess. We have pulled out of the Iraq mission. We are ending our commitments to Afghanistan. I don’t know if you have ever tried this, but abandoning ongoing debts that we have already committed to isn’t something we do.

Is the entire historical record of Obama really going to be one long apologia with regards to it being Bush's fault? Because I know I'm not the only one who realizes that would be lame.

Once again, giving credit where credit is due.  Maybe you aren’t the only one, but you’re pretty close (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/21/poll-majority-of-americans-blame-obama-for-economy/).

But in the public's eye, Bush shoulders more of the burden when it comes to the economy, with nearly seven in 10 Americans blaming the former president either a great deal or a moderate amount. That number is down from 80 percent who assigned fault to Bush six months after he finished his second term in 2009.

[a-new-machine.livejournal.com]

Obama could shut down Gitmo today. He's the chief executive. Acting as if he doesn't have the power or it's complicated is absurd. He could order the Military to start tribunals today for who they believe fits the bill and transfer the rest to federal civilian custody.

And how precisely is he to deal with Congress's statutory restriction that bars him from spending any money to close Gitmo? To wit:

The measure for fiscal year 2011 blocks the Department of Defense from using any money to move Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S. for any reason. It also says the Pentagon can't spend money on any U.S. facility aimed at housing detainees moved from Guantanamo, in a slap at the administration's study of building such a facility in Illinois. [source (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704774604576036520690885858.html)].

[surferelf.livejournal.com]

This comes off to me, as an abused wife making excuses for her husband's abuse.

Yeah, well, you take what you can get.

Obama's foreign policy has at best been tepid. He hasn't supported anyone outright and only when the situation becomes obvious does he step in.

Yes! Fantastic! We need a lot more of this!

Is the entire historical record of Obama really going to be one long apologia with regards to it being Bush's fault? Because I know I'm not the only one who realizes that would be lame.

A lot of the Bush blaming is invented in the minds of those that oppose Obama. For instance, pointing out that Obama inherited the worst economy since the Great Depression doesn't mean that it was Bush's fault that it was so terrible. However, it's certainly interpreted that way by people who would like to pin it on Obama.

[muscadinegirl.livejournal.com]

The healthcare reform is not going to work until people can afford to pay for it.

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

Just because a healthcare reform is difficult doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Most things don't go in a straight line. They get modified along the way. If adjustments need to be made, they will be. The bottom line is, we should be having more people insured than are now. Those who can't afford healthcare reform can't afford healthcare right now.

This still has to survive until 2014 when it all goes into effect. There are a lot of things that can happen along the way. We still have a Supreme Court case to test its Constitutionality and it has to survive efforts to repeal it. Only time will tell.

[the-rukh.livejournal.com]

single payer healthcare only works in civilized countries.

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

Obama: still > Dubya. Four years of broken or half-kept promises are better than eight years of Fundamentalist nuttiness, pro-corproate shenanigans, and unilateral foreign policy misadventures. Plus, it really does amuse me to see people blaming the recession on Obama and the Democrats, when it began under a Republican president. It's like blaming FDR for starting the Great Depression, or Lincoln for starting the Civil War: does not compute.

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

I concur.

[anfalicious.livejournal.com]

I hope he wins again. One of the quirks of the American system is that the first term is all still campaigning for the second term, which is when you get to make your mark. I kinda like it; our system doesn't suit it, and I think it's one of the Westminster system's great flaws.

[whoasksfinds.livejournal.com]

meanwhile, for FY12, Obama projects 1.3 trillion dollar annual deficit. hopey changey is right.

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

Considering the Republicans insist on denying new revenue and the private sector is hoarding cash instead of investing it in economic growth, the inherited deficit continues.