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PDF versionObama needs to reconnect with the American people
by Mario T. García on Jan. 29, 2010
I voted for President Barack Obama with a great deal of enthusiasm and hope for the future like many other Americans. Although I still support the President and still hope that his administration will advance a progressive agenda, I have to say that I have been disappointed by the President’s seemingly unwillingness to fight for such an agenda. He seems to predisposed to compromise and to look over his shoulders at his right-wing critics.
The American people want a President who seems to stand for something and to fight for those goals. The President must articulate a vision of where he wants to take the country but he can’t or shouldn’t try to be all things to all people. There is no question but that the biggest mistake this past year by the administration was to focus so heavily on healthcare reform.
While such reform is much needed especially covering the millions of uninsured, the fact is that the President didn’t seem to realize that was not where most Americans were in a steeply declining economy. Most were concerned about their jobs and their declining wages. This is what President Roosevelt understood when he took office in the midst of the Great Depression. This is what President Obama failed to understand in the midst of the Great Recession. Hopefully, the administration will shift priorities and reconnect with the American people.
You must have fallen asleep
You must have fallen asleep Wednesday evening. Read David Brooks in Friday's NYT's.
Even though my first choice
Even though my first choice was for Hillary I thought Pres Obama would bring this country together. People were tired of Bush and a new approached was welcome to say the least, but the American people never voted to turn this country into a socialist state, or to have their wealth "redistributed"
to others. The people wanted more openess in DC and accoutability in its leadership what we got was a trillion dollar flawed healthcare bill that
no one could read, backroom deals albeit with different actors, and the same
partisanship that Bush promoted. In the end it was beginning to look a lot like Chicago Party politics. Lets hope the message that Mass sent will signal a change from the last 9 months and a recentering a ship that has drifted far to left.
It's a great comfort to hear
It's a great comfort to hear that Mr. Garcia knows in hindsight what President Obama should have done during his first year. One assumes he has health insurance, since he is so sure that the full court press to get health insurance for 40 million uninsured for the most part poor Americans was a mistake. And as for the need to reconnect with "the American people," I am personally grateful that the banking system did not collapse, however much the country needs to move forward from there in the coming year. Perhaps the collapse of the banking system would not have had the implications for Mr Garcia that it would have had for many of us on the verge of retirement.
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