The Trouble with Barry

He seemed so gutsy. He inspired more than Hope, he inspired Chutzpah.


In 2007, while his Democratic Primary opponent, Hillary Clinton was busy poll-testing her the popularity of her maiden name, Barack Hussein Obama was building a grass-roots network of volunteers and campaign staff that would help catapult to one of the biggest presidential upsets in modern history. And that was just round one. Obama's victory of McCain was even more historic.

Keep thinking, Mr. President. Think before capitulating.

Not only is Barack Obama the first black president, he was the first non-incumbent candidate to receive more than fifty percent of the vote since George H.W. Bush in 1988. Heck, he was the first Democrat to win more than fifty percent of the vote since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Obama drew comparisons to John Kennedy, and he was the first candidate from either party to go directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House. Heck, he was even the first non-incumbent Democratic candidate to receive more than fifty percent of the popular vote since Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.

Kennedy. Johnson. Roosevelt. Names that belong the history books, and not without good reason. Names associated with Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Peace Corps, Social Security, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The list goes on and on. Programs that the poor and middle class take for granted. Programs that enable the poor to escapes the harshest aspects of poverty, and in some cases, climb out of poverty altogether. One would think that simply being America's first black president would be a major confidence booster. That, paired with widespread voter support and initially high approval ratings among the public,  would put Obama in the same class as some of his popular predecessors.

What happened? Today, Virginia governor Bob McDonnel begrudingly admitted that that the 2009 Economic Recovery and Re-Investment Act (aka the "Stimulus Package) had helped Virginia.

GOP straw-men like McDonnel can't even stand up to cable news anchors!

Gee Willikers, McDonnell-Man, I can think of a lot of ways in which major sectors of Virginia's economy are entirely dependent on the Federal Government! Is Bob McDonnel dumb enough to really believe that the Pentagon in Arlington or the CIA's headquarters in Langley are private enterprise projects, made possible by the economic policies of Republican governors?

The question of whether or not potential VP-pick McDonnel is dumb enough to believe his own lies is irrelevant. '08 Obama was great at understanding the concerns of others, acknowledging where people's concerns came from, and expressing (what we thought) were his heartfelt beliefs.

President Obama has been President Obummer. Although America is certainly better off with his policies, however meager they have been at mitigating this countries greatest economic crisis in over 70 years, America wanted better. Sure, he talked about bi-partisanship. He also talked about policies that would provide affordable health car for all Americans, reforming the country's broken student loan-shark program, and yes, ending tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent of all Americans.

Why doesn't Obummer channel Obama? It wouldn't seem too difficult to gently remind Americans that a program a single-payer program like Medicare provides universal health care for all Americans over the age of 65, at lower cost and with better results than any private-sector counterpart. Or that Pell Grants are a better means of making college affordable than Sallie Mae.

These are easier arguments for one to make than it would be to explain a relationship with a fiery pastor like Jeremiah Wright. One need not juxtapose America's rocky past--and present--race relations in order to let unpopular tax cuts for wealthy simply expire, or to justify eliminating the earnings cap on Social Security taxes for the top 10 percent of all income earners.

But he doesn't. He waffles. He wavers. He's afraid of a fight. Or maybe he's just too moderate. He said so himself. Or maybe Obama just wants to go back home to Chicago.

I thought for sure that Obama had his heart set on a second term, especially given his consistent lead in the polls, both popular vote and the electoral college. But after reading about how much Obama enjoyed his visit back to Chicago, I couldn't help but think he is just too timid.

And that's the trouble with Barry: too timid. He wields executive power with the zeal of a zombie. And nobody quite knows what to do with his corpse of a presidency.