It was a little over a year ago when the most of nation felt that the hands of government had been handed to a President that would set us towards a a new direction, even in an economic crisis. A year has passed and the nation seems to be no better off and its government in total gridlock. Wall Street has made a substantial recovery, while the rest of the nation has seen the government impervious to the needs of the general public. We watched nearly a trillion dollars set aside to bail out Wall Street and a Stimulus Bill passed, which did little to create jobs but may have saved others. We’ve seen a government in gridlock, while more than 8 million jobs have been lost due to the Recession and the count continues to rise. We’ve seen a Health Reform Act derailed and become a total disaster for both sides of the isle, as well as for the general public. What happened?
There is no single answer to this question and it all depends on where you stand. To be fair to President Obama, he had too many problems to deal with when he took Office. Already first on the agenda was the Economic Crisis, which was handed him from several previous Administrations that had shook hands with the devil, while they opened the gates of greed to Wall Street. Although it crashed during the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration had to finally deal with it. The TARP was already enacted and the Obama Administration could do nothing but to continue the bailout. The nation looked for help, as jobs disappeared faster than in any time in most of our lives. Health Care Reform was first and foremost on President Obama’s agenda, as the present health care system directly and indirectly fueled the crisis. President Obama turned it over to Congress for a bi-partisan bill, but between a Republican boycott and a Democratic majority that couldn’t resist the opportunity to fill it as a Christmas stocking; partisan politics ruled the day and the White House failed to act. What we’ve seen is the Republican Party more interested in regaining control over its job of governance, a Democratic Party unwilling and unable to work with each other rather than following their job of governance and a President who chose to disengage and allow his initiatives to die in Congress. That is a recipe for disaster!
With government in total gridlock, the public has lost any trust that had for Congress as well as loosing their belief in President Obama. The first wakeup call was the demonstrations during the summer on Health Care forums, which eventually became the Tea Party, which is now the second coming of "The Know Nothing Party" of the 1850s.. The second was the November election results in the governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia, as well as in Congress and the third was the the election of Scott Brown for the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat in January 2010. Some attributed the pending Health Care Bill for Sen. Brown’s victory, but Massachusetts has its own Health Care Bill and it had little to do with it. What really won Brown the seat was that he listened.....listened to everyone he met on the campaign trail and they knew it! They didn’t vote for him as a Republican. They voted for him with the hope and promise that someone was going to pay attention to average voter in Massachusetts and be independent from the stagnation in Washington. It will be interesting to see how independent Sen. Brown, once he gets settled into the Senate. I’m not holding my breath.
It is time for President Obama to stop trying to find bi-partisan support for anything in Congress. He’s not going to get it. What most of the nation is concerned about is The Economy and, most of all, JOBS! On December 13, 2008, RPO emphasized that the real answer to this disaster was JOBS! Apparently, no one was listening! It certainly was not any revelation. It was common sense! Obama has lost touch with the American public by his hands off policy so far. It’s time to get them dirty. The "Jobs Bill" in Congress is his best bet and will start to address what’s really on the nation’s mind. The Stimulus Bill turned out to be too little to late and spread over an extended period of time. We need a Jobs Bill that will get people to work and it must include measures to retrain our workforce, as the jobs lost are not returning. With the "Super Majority" gone in the Senate, President Obama has to go out and sell his Jobs Bill to the American Public. It means hitting the road and airways. If it dies in Congress, then voters will see where the problem lies and the Republican Party will begin to feel the pressure. With more than 20 million unemployed and more underemployed, we are facing statistics that approach the Great Depression. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed has just announced a new Jobs Bill that has now been cut in half from what President Obama announced in his State Of The Union Address. Thus bill is useless! It is an insult to the American worker! It does absolutely nothing to help solve the biggest problem facing America. As we approach 20 percent unemployment and underemployment, President Obama has to get his hands dirty and push Congress to invest in the American worker. If we fail, we will go into a Depression that may equal that of the 1930s. Forget about bipartisanship from the Republicans! If the Republican Party votes it down, then they will have to eventually face their constituents, many of which are among the 20 million unemployed. The unemployed are not concerned with the Federal deficit. They’re too busy trying to deal with their own deficit!
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