On a whole array of issues -- war, jobs and the economy, DADT, DOMA, among others -- President Obama, the Democratic majority in the House, and the supermajority in the Senate this year have disappointed a lot of people who believed in them.
For me, the revelation that President Obama wants more corporate-government collusion, though this corporatist system works against the American people and has done so much to harm the trust between us and our government has been the greatest disappointment.
How have they disappointed you the most?
While listening this afternoon to the panel on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria – GPS review President Obama’s first year in office, discuss whether he has met the challenges we faced when he took office, and ask what kind of a president he really is, I decided to reread the inaugural address that Obama delivered on Jan 20, 2009.
Among other things, President Obama said the following when he took office:
"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account, to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government."
Barack Obama became president having campaigned on slogans like "change we can believe in," "the change we need," "fierce urgency of now," and "yes, we can!"
As we approach the end of his first year in office, Americans can ask what President Obama has done to restore "the vital trust" between the American people and our government.
Has he done what he promised to do?
Indeed, has he done what he said is necessary to do?
I believe that his presidency has not been the change he promised.
I believe that rather than break the corporate-government collusion that has worked against the American people and has done so much to harm the trust between us and our government, President Obama has in fact enhanced corporate-government collusion time and again during his first year. Moreover, he shows no sign of changing course going forward into in what will be -- if he does not acknowledge his errors thus far and become the change we need -- his remaining few years in office.
In this and so many other ways, President Obama has failed to address properly the challenges that we face.
In fairness, Obama hasn’t been the only disappointment.
The Democratic majority in the House and the supermajority in the Senate have been great disappointments, too.
In what ways have President Obama and the House and Senate Democrats disappointed you this year?
[Cross-posted at Firedoglake.]
[Originally posted at Circleparkforum.]