During the 2008 presidential campaign, I did something I had never done before. I gave money to a candidate. His name was Barack Obama. After 2-1/2 years of gauging President Obama's performance in office, there's only one thing I want from him right now. I want my money back.
failure. The promise of his once-daring campaign is over. "Yes We Can!" has morphed into "Yes We Can... But Only If The Republicans Say We Can." The promise of bold and progressive change has slinked sadly to the corner to be replaced by knee-buckling compromise and the perpetuation of the status quo. Obama may think he's meeting his GOP foes halfway, but the goalposts change virtually every day, and the 50-yard line is now at the 20.
failure. Perhaps after eight years of coping with G.W. Bush, the ultimate FAILURE, we should be grateful that our current lowercase failure isn't as bad. We never expected much from the goofy guy from Crawford, and he delivered. But we did expect so much more from this Illinois wunderkind. We became enamored of his calm demeanor, his intelligence, and the notion that here was a President who could really make a difference. Color me naive.
failure. What is most disheartening about Obama's presidency lies not so much in poor policy, but in dashed hopes. We thought this guy could be a transformational figure, a man who could rise above politics and lead us confidently into the future. And what did we get? He got a living Transformer character with a backbone so flexible, he can bend over backwards to effortlessly accommodate the likes of Wall Street, Big Pharma, Big Insurance, the military-industrial complex, and John Boehner.
failure. I think I just might sit out 2012 and see how the chips fall. I doubt I'll be casting any vote for President. And if I awake on November 7, 2012 to the words "President-Elect Romney," well, so be it. At least HIS failure will come as advertised.