This feels, as I’m sitting here beginning to write, like a night of “I hope I’m wrongs.” I feel like I need to take a break from “bashing” Republicans (it seems like I could do that endlessly) and take a closer look at President Obama. As I’ve said over and over on this site I HOPE PRESIDENT OBAMA SUCCEEDS! I’ve been waiting over 40 years for a President that I could energetically support – and, for me, I did during the campaign. I sent him money, I read his books and shared them with others, I listened intently to his message of “hope,” and I trusted that he would follow through on his MAIN campaign promises – which I took to be, ending the war in Iraq in 16 months (I never dreamed that “ending” the war – I should call it an occupation, I don’t think anyone in Washington knows who the “enemy” is to this day – would include leaving 50,000 troops there indefinitely), restoring sanity to our economy, FIXING THE FISA BILL (I was promised this in an email from his campaign staff), holding members of the Bush administration accountable (we were all promised this when he said “No one is above the law in America”), ending the “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell” policy in the military, and bringing Osama bin Laden to justice – to name a few (the main ones which stuck with me).
As I stated on a post the other night, I “get” that American Presidents make promises they can’t (and don’t intend to) keep during the heat of the campaign. However, I’ve also stated many times that I’ve been waiting for over 40 years for something different. I was pretty sure it was going to be President Obama. I cried the night he was elected. Waiting for his inauguration I got a good chance to meditate on the severity of the problems he would inherit (Bush was almost AWOL during the last year or so of his Presidency – especially the last 6 months) – and they were growing every day with the federal government seemingly incapable of “fighting back,” which just made matters worse. I listened to President elect Obama say all the right things (from my perspective) – but there were a couple things I greatly miscalculated which would have tempered my excitement (and, since the inauguration – have). Actually, the first red flag for me was when then Senator Obama voted for the FISA bill which gave retro-active immunity to the Telecom companies (I believe mainly ATT&T and Verizon) who had been allowing the Bush administration to essentially listen in to any phone conversation taking place in America and read any email. Obviously, they weren’t listening to or reading all of them, but they were developing super-computers with sophisticated software which could “data-mine” huge volumes of “data” giving the federal government a free pass beyond the fourth amendment of our constitution.
When I discovered that President Obama continued this program once in office and actually defended the Bush position in court I said to myself, “No more money until I figure this out” (Obama’s team continues to solicit contributions now that he’s in office – none coming from me). As an aside, I’m still wondering where is MoveOn.org and the other so-called “progressive” groups in calling Obama on this – for me, obviously, a BIG ONE! I really don’t want my granddaughter having her phone conversations monitered by our government – and I fear that many in Washington are just accepting this as a necessary result of the “War on Terror.” Ughhh!
The second “red flag” for me was the constant attempts to placate Republicans, in an attempt to gain “bi-partisanship,” seemingly with a willingness to risk his relationship with his own base. Well, this has led to more discouragement for me. Let’s start with the “stimulus” bill. After reading reports saying that the infrastructure of America (roads, bridges, etc.) needed about 2.2 Trillion dollars of investment to bring it up to code (after years of neglect) I thought, “There’s the ticket out of this economic downturn” – which is the worst one in my liftetime. President Obama did get a stimulus bill passed, but in his effort for “bi-partisanship” he accepted almost 300 billion in unneeded tax cuts (I hardly notice mine) and included only 100 Billion toward rebuilding our infrastructure. I said to myself, “It’s a start” and I’m sure there will be more to follow (and I truly hope there will be).
I liked how President Obama dealt with the auto makers, demanding critical changes to how they operate in return for the loans designed to keep them “afloat.” And, like everything else, I REALLY HOPE this one works out. There are millions of American workers who make up our auto industry and it’s one of the last bastions of manufacturing in this great nation – IT’S IMPERATIVE TO KEEP IT GOING. And, while much of their problems came from mismanagement over the years – the truth is that the Wall Street “meltdown” was at the root of their problems. When credit dried up in this country, it made it next to impossible for our auto makers to survive. It looks like Ford may make it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually they go the same route as Chrysler and GM. The point is, the Obama administration didn’t just throw money at Detroit and hope some of it would “stick.” Unfortunately, I’m not so sure about what they did with the Wall Street banks – which brings up another issue that has me on “pause” in my support of President Obama.
When I look at his economic advisors, what I see are remnants of Wall Street and the philosophy which created this mess in the first place. I remember criticizing Hank Paulsen (Bush’s Treasury secretary) because of his connection to Goldman Sachs and how his “intervention” seemed to come at a time when Goldman was potentially “on the ropes.” If you remember, Bear Stearns had been snapped up in a very questionable deal by JP Morgan Chase (who later reaped the benefits of a run on Washington Mutual) with the Federal Reserve essentially guaranteeing the investment for Chase (who purchased Bear for $2 per share), then Paulsen inexplicably let Lehman Brothers fail (as many felt he should have done with Bear), and all hell broke out on Wall Street. The rumors, as I remember it were that Goldman and Morgan Stanley were next. Of course, I can only imagine how much Paulsen had invested in Goldman (he was the CEO just two years earlier prior to his stint as Treasury Secretary) – but that is when Paulsen rammed through the TARP bailout of $700 billion, originally intended to purchase the “toxic” assets (I’m not sure how they were termed assets) of these banks which were considered “too big to fail.” Paulsen “threw” about $350 Billion at these Wall Street firms in a period of three or four weeks – with little if any restrictions and less oversight.
Well, the reason I point all this out is because President Obama chose Tim Geithner as his Treasury Secretary – presumably because he understood the “meltdown” better than anyone else – and Larry Summers as his chief economic advisor. The problem I’ve had with that from day one is that Summers was a key figure in the Clinton administration when much of the regulation governing the financial industry was “gutted,” and Geithner was the head of the New York “Fed” and there is little doubt in my mind that he was right in the middle of all the “stuff” which “backfired” on all of these banks. He too is connected to Goldman and basically, I’m not feeling that Geithner and Summers are going to lead us to the “change we can believe in” regarding our economy. I’ve heard reports that the federal government has made promises to these “too big to fail” companies that put the taxpayers at risk for something like 11-12 TRILLION dollars! – that’s with a T! I am very concerned that President Obama is leading us right back into the false economy we’ve been dealing with for the past 30+ years. It appears that he is very comfortable with many of the policies of the Clinton administration – and while I was happy with the surplus achieved under Clinton – some of his decisions on deregulation were like huge green lights to these greedy, ME FIRST Wall Streeters and their Republican base. I’m not looking for “business as usual,” an economy whose health is measured by the Dow Jones Industrial average – but one that is measured by the health of our middle class, the rising wages of our workforce, companies being rewarded for “green” initiative and loyalty to their workforce. I’m really tired of the brutal attitude in business – I would like to see a return to REAL FAMILY VALUES in this country where the workforce is the backbone of the company – not the shareholders. In other words, I’d like President Obama to lead us back into a time where people earn their money the old fashion way – by working for it. We have a consumer based economy because we’ve sat idly by as one company after another moves their operation overseas in an effort to reduce labor costs – mainly to increase shareholder value – leading those at the “top” to receive obscene salaries and justify them by pointing out how much money the shareholders made.
The problem with all of that is to have a consumer based economy you need consumers. And, when consumers don’t have money to spend, BIG PROBLEMS FOLLOW – and, personally, I feel we are far from “out of the woods” on this recession which still could make it to the depression stage in my opinion. Unemployment, by all measures I’ve been able to find, is expected to exceed 10% nationally by the end of this year and still be climbing – it’s something like 14% in Michigan and 12% in Oregon, two of the states I’m familiar with – and, if you counted EVERYONE out of work, my guess is that the rate would already be well above the 10% figure as I’m writing this. I’m saying this because I believe people will give President Obama about another six months before they start getting too critical of his initiatives if they’re not working. In my mind, he should be working on another infusion of government money into infrastructure RIGHT NOW! Six months from now could be too late.
OK, there’s two of my concerns about President Obama’s first 6 months in office which I believe could magnify into problems which could determine whether or not he succeeds (as I want) or fails (as Limbaugh and virtually every other Republican wants). The Republicans, as I’ve stated here since well before Obama was inaugurated are not going to agree to anything he wants. So, his reaching out to them has been a big problem for me – and he continues to do that. I think he’s trying to be some kind of a combination of Reagan and Lincoln – and I’m concerned that it will eventually bring him down – that is, make him a one term President. I’m not going to go into great detail with my next concern because I’ve done so on several of my earlier posts – but President Obama’s refusal (I used to call it reluctance) to investigate the Bush administration and prosecute any illegal activities IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND! He promised that this would take place and that “No one in America is above the law” – I heard him say that with my own ears. For me, this is a deal breaker. It sets such a horrible precedent for the future of this nation that I will not be able to vote for Obama again should he continue this illegal behavior. I say it’s illegal because he took an oath to uphold the constitution and enforce the laws of this great land. By turning his back on clear legal violations he’s doing the unthinkable as far as I’m concerned. According to the Geneva Conventions, if you are a national leader and you’re aware of torture taking place YOU HAVE TO PROSECUTE IT! IT’S NOT AN OPTION! Obama is being a total politician on this one and our children and grandchildren could be paying for this for generations to come. I can’t even believe I’m writing this – President Obama is a constitutional expert! THERE IS NO EXCUSE HERE!
Failing to keep his promise regarding “Don’t Ask, Don’t tell” and the Defense of Marriage act will potentially alienate the gay community and those of us who believe that our civil rights should belong to everyone, his continuance of the Bush wiretapping policy could alienate many like me if it becomes common knowledge (he’s doing a good job of keeping it off of the nightly news), the fact the troops aren’t coming home could alienate many more (although Obama could luck out on this one and the Iraqi’s themselves might kick us out), the refusal to hold Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Rove/Rice/Addington/Wolfowitz/Feith and the others accountable for war (and other) crimes may undermine much of his support, especially if the economy doesn’t rebound. And, even if the economy does rebound, if we end up with “more of the same” there are many (again like me) who won’t vote for Obama out of principle. While it’s true that most politicians don’t keep their promises and they vote the interests of the corporations who have “bought” them, I expected something different from President Obama – I expected him to be a statesman who had the courage to stand up to the dregs who have been bringing this nation to her knees for the sake of insane profits. In his first 6 months in office, I’m seeing signs that Obama is more of a politician than a statesman! Again, I HOPE I’M WRONG!