President Obama ran on change. Change is difficult. Part of the problem is that so many large changes need to happen. One was/is in health care. One was/is in nuclear arms. One was/is in the economy. One was/is in financial reform. One is in properly investigating war war crimes. If Vice President Cheney is telling the truth about his role, then one change is that he should be prosecuted. Another change is to implement policies/laws that will take us from global warming to global cooling. Ending global warming is not enough. Another change is improve pre-K through post graduate school education. Another change is to improve the national infrastructure. A change needs to happen to restrict how companies/lobbyists contribute money to politicians. All of this and more needs to be done.
I clearly believe more change is clearly needed. But is President Obama at fault for not bringing more change. I believe that not only is President Obama not at fault, rather he is following a course that will cause as much change as possible.
Take for example the issue of single payer health care. There is no way a single payer health care bill or even a health care bill with a public option could have passed congress. If you believe it could, then you are kidding yourself. The current law is a change and all the pundits talk about what a big change it was/is. But to me the bill represents all the change that was possible, not a big change. Without President Obama this change would not have happened.
Take the economic stimulus package. Yeah it should have been bigger. Yeah less should have been devoted to tax reductions and more to spending. Yeah there should have been a larger bailout for the banks. Yeah the economy may still go to hell. But could congress have passed a better bill? No way. Again President Obama did the best that was possible.
Next lets look at the war in Afghanistan. I hate war. I believe the troops should be withdrawn from Afghanistan. But, what about Pakistan. Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal. Pakistan has a secret service that is at best split about supporting terrorists and at worst supports terrorists. India and Pakistan have had many conflicts and there no reason to believe that will not continue. Pakistan has protects a person who has provided nuclear bomb technology to North Korea and North Korea. Who is to say he won't provide such technology to terrorists. Finally imagine terrorists getting control either through an election or through force of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal. Cannot happen? Think again. Keeping a large force in Afghanistan to deal with terrorists in Pakistan may not be such a bad idea. Think about it.
Let's look at war crimes. Do we really want a national uproar about war crimes. A small less than 40% of the population (and probably more) would dominate the national news/psyche if there were proper investigations and trials. Of course the low level people who committed war crimes should be prosecuted as well as everyone who told them commit war crimes that had responsibility. But all other change would come to a bruising halt if that happened. Just think about how many people would react, Reagan democrats too.
I could go on and on. Will I continue to support President Obama? Dam right I will! Will I continue to try get more change? Dam right I will? Will I continue to feel sorry for President Obama? Dam right I will!
Yes, I feel sorry for President Obama. Some like me plead for more change. Others like Fox News, Rush the Limbaugh, Palin, the tea bag folks, . . . attack President Obama for the changes that President Obama has helped bring about. There is no one else who can bring about the changes necessary. So I feel sorry for President Obama for receiving so much criticism for doing the best job possible.