Assessing Mr. Obama’s Performance

In little more than a year and a half, America will have another presidential election.  I do believe that the primaries will start in less than a year.  There is a lot of speculation on who is going to run from the conservative side.  Take your pick between Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, even Donald Trump, and any number of people who have some attraction for political conservatives.  Nobody has come out as a clear contender just yet.  But they are all chomping at the bit to be the next great white hope.

On the liberal side, there’s little doubt.  They’ll be a few challengers.  I believe Dennis Kucinich and/or Howard Dean might be bold enough to make a stab at taking the presidential reigns.  But any challenge they make will only serve as an annoyance.  There isn’t much doubt at all.  You know who will be the liberal contender.  You’ve seen him billed as the impetus of change and the hope of the future.  He’s your American President and mine.  Barack Obama will be back leading the charge to keep the White House from falling back into conservative hands.  Remember, you heard it here first if you haven’t heard it anywhere else by now.  And with that in mind, now is as good a time as any to reflect on Mr. Obama’s performance.  How has he done?

Mr. Obama’s presidency has been seriously rocked from day one and on a regular basis.  On day one he had to pick up the pieces of an economy on the ropes from his predecessor.  His administration had to deal with the super massive gulf oil leak.  He had to deal with two wars that appear reluctant to come to anything resembling a conclusion.  This President has to deal with an explosion of political revolution in the Middle East.  He kept his promise of reforming healthcare with terms that make the appearance of any reform of healthcare a non-issue for the better part of a decade to come.

Because of the economy, unemployment rates continued to rise and peaked right at double digit territory with 10.1%.  However, according to the most recently released numbers, the unemployment rate has fallen back down to 8.9%.

From people who still to this day insist that they want to see his birth certificate, even though it’s been posted on the internet and these people have never ever thought of asking any other President of the United States’ to prove their citizenship.  It’s only a coincidence this issue starts with America’s first black President.  Many high profile conservatives do nothing but throw rocks at Mr. Obama for the many, many decisions he’s made regarding domestic and foreign policy.  People will criticize Mr. Obama for not taking a certain path of action, and then once he does take their advice, the criticism evolves into how he should not have made the decision that was made.  It seems no matter what, the man can’t win for losing.  No matter which way the man goes, people are ready to level criticism whether it’s well deserved and based on a genuine difference of opinion or whether it’s baseless self-serving fodder intended to only fuel political attention.

But whether or not you love him or leave him, all of us need to take stock of his performance and whether or not he remains the best available option for taking the country forward.  Three years ago, I put aside my skepticism of Mr. Obama long enough to make a donation to his campaign fund.  I wanted to put my money where my mouth was and support the person that I was sure to be the best choice for the job at the time.  However, even the surest things change over time.  I plan to take a long assessment of Mr. Obama and make a determination if he’s still the one I need to hang my hopes on.

I must confess I’m not all that impressed with his performance to date.  I find Mr. Obama too quick to give up what should be his core values to chase political nirvana with people who do nothing but dog his every move.  When he talked about how if he was going to be elected he was going to make sure that the well to do and corporations paid their fair share of taxes, I believed him.  But when it came time for him to put his money where his mouth was, Mr. Obama folded like the typical politician whose talk of fighting battles amounts to nothing but good political theater.

Nope, I’m not at all happy with his performance.  I think he could have done a lot better.  Does this mean he’s out in my book?  Not exactly.  Good thing for him I find the majority of his political opponents far too loony to take seriously.  Like I said, we need to take stock of Mr. Obama’s performance.  Along with that, we need to take stock of his competition.  Simply because we might not be satisfied with his performance, that doesn’t mean somebody else would have or could have done better.  Imagine the past two years with John McCain and Sarah Palin.  I shudder at the thought.

Quick Notes 201104

Friday, April 29, 2011
More Killer Tornadoes

April 2011 is breaking all kinds of records for tornado activity. And historically speaking, the busy month for tornadoes is May.

Thursday, April 14, 2011
Ready to Fight

President Barack Obama says he’s ready to fight for the American people. Dude! You’ve had more than two years to show us how much you’re ready to fight. Maybe it’s just me, but you really don’t seem like you’re able to duke it out.

Thursday, April 7, 2011
Sorry For Walker

At least he owned up to his mistake!

Friday, April 1, 2011
Autism Awareness

Autism awareness!