When the candidate I supported won the Presidential election for the first time in my adult lifetime I was excited.  I cried the night I heard Barack Obama’s acceptance speech once the election’s results were “official.”  I’ll never forget calling one of my VERY BEST FRIENDS, a man who still carries a bullet too near his heart to have it safely removed – FROM THE VIET NAM ERA – as a member of the United States Air Force, a man who taught himself how to read in the Air Force by reading the Bible and who now is a pastor in his own little “inner city” church – some 20 years after his retirement from the military, a man with whom I taught for some 10 years in public school as we focused our lives on helping 6th grade students from “tough” circumstances learn that they were important, and a man who has endured a lifetime of discrimination because of the color of his skin.  This man is one of my hero’s and I couldn’t wait to ask him what he thought of our new President.

His first words to me were something on the line of:  “I never thought I’d live long enough to see this day in America.”  And I, although without the perspective of my good friend, felt essentially the same.  My country has demonstrated that the ideals ALL OF US were taught to believe lie at the foundation of the constitution were REAL.  For months I had anxiously awaited the moment with a sense of anticipation and also a sense of fear.  The Democrats had stepped out at a very important time in history and I, despite being a lifelong “independent,” was proud to watch what was happening, was sending what little money I could to Obama and other candidates (in the hope of helping to create the so-called magical 60 vote Democratic caucus in the senate), and was talking to anyone who would listen about how bad I thought an Obama defeat (and therefore a McCain/Palin win) would be for our nation.

I, like millions of other progressive minded Americans, had endured the 8 years of Bush/Cheney with a mounting sense of anticipation as to when it would “finally be over.”  I started reading books regarding the Bush decisions to abandon Afganistan in favor of invading Iraq, warrantlessly wiretapping his own citizens, authorizing torture and endless incarceration for “enemy combatants” – many of which were obviously victims of a flawed policy in the manner they were captured – and some even ended up dead, reducing taxes during wartime thereby necessitating huge deficits and inadequate support for our troops, and virtually obliterating what was a vibrant economy when he took office to the point where many people (including myself) were making comparisons – and legitimately so – to Herbert Hoover and the American economy of the 1920’s leading to the “Great Depression” as Bush was leaving office.

I tempered my joy regarding Obama’s historic victory by pledging that I would NOT give him the same blind loyalty which the Republicans gave Bush – a loyalty which allowed for much of the abuse leading to the massive folly that Bush will be remembered for – a loyalty which essentially “trumped” the traditional American institutions of “checks and balances” brilliantly designed by our forefathers as a way to prevent exactly what Bush/Cheney were trying to impose on America – the unitary executive.  That is, the Republicans were attempting to create a circumstance where they would have what they called the “permanent Republican majority.”  Control of the White House, both houses of Congress, the court system (along with the justice department), and probably most significantly THE MEDIA.

In fact, one of my original disappointments with Obama was his refusal to expose the abuses of the Bush/Cheney administration through investigations.  But, my point here is that I was really excited that he was our President (still am – just a bit discouraged) and that Bush was not our President (or that McCain/Palin were not the new administration).  If you’ve been on this site before you know that I’ve kept my pledge to avoid the blind loyalty and I’ve become progressively more impatient with our new President.  I have been, and will continue to be, critical of many of his decisions for a simple reason.  I honestly disagree with them and I believe President Obama is taking a way too pragmatic approach to dealing with our problems.  In my mind the opportunity was there at the start of his Presidency to TRULY make some SIGNIFICANT changes in the direction of this nation.  It appears to me that President Obama is using the same set of “bandaids” to fix the same old problems – therefore insuring we’ll (or, worse than that, our children and/or grandchildren will) be fixing these same problems again at a time that is still to be determined.

That being said, I can’t even imagine how bad it would be in this country if John McCain had become President.  The guy thought our economy’s “fundamentals” were strong as depression was hovering on the horizon and he couldn’t tell the differnce between a Sunni and a Shia as he was acting as some kind of expert on the Iraq war.  Evidently his military service where he was – like Bush – the recipient of position based on his father’s success and, also like Bush, a virtual failure at everything he did – this was supposed to make him some kind of military expert.  The only thing he did well while in the military was crash a lot of planes.  He came within about five spots from being at the absolute BOTTOM of his class at Annapolis – a class of almost 900 Midshipmen.  In my mind, NOT PRESIDENTIAL MATERIAL.  Of course, then he (a man with a history of cancer) chose the most INCREDIBLY UNQUALIFIED vice presidential candidate EVER in Sarah Palin.  I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have Sarah Palin as our commander in chief.  And, there’s still Republicans out there who refuse to admit the obvious – that Sarah Palin as a nationally prominent politician is a JOKE – A BAD JOKE!  John McCain’s INCREDIBLE decision to thrust her into the national spotlight will place him with a special place in political infamy.  It has given her the opportunity to become rich – which she’s taking full advantage of (and, I don’t blame her – I’d probably do the same) – and it’s giving the radical right wing fringe (and Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck) someone who’s dumber than them that they can “champion.”

So, when people remind me of the alternative to Obama when I complain about his decisionmaking it is true that he is LIGHT YEARS better than anything I can imagine from the Republicans.  He is “nudging” us in a different direction, and I suppose when you take a practical look at the makeup of our Congress it’s easy to see how one might say “this is the best we can do.”  However, I’m not buying that and I refuse to think that way.  I’m still waiting for someone who will use the so-called “bully – pulpit” to push a real progressive agenda.  One that will reverse the “Reagan effect” on our government and totally change the mindset and the expectation of our people. 

At the rate we’re going we will continue to accept lobbyists buying off our Congress people “right before our eyes.”  This health care debate has been quite an education for anyone who’s been closely watching it.  When the industry which is supposedly being reformed is spending upwards of a million and a half dollars PER DAY to defeat the “reform,” and when the senators who block the “reform” every step of the way are receiving contributions in the MILLIONS from the very companies and businesses they’re attempting to regulate – SOMETHING’S TERRIBLY WRONG and passive pragmatism won’t cut it.  For example, I heard tonight that the so-called (watered down) “public option” was being “abandoned” in exchange for lowering the eligible age for Medicare to 55.  I thought, “these guys are going to find a way to allow the insurance industry which is giving them millions to ‘win’ while making it look like they’ve done something substantial.”

Now, I’m in the over 55 category and under 65 – which is the present Medicare eligible age – so maybe this will be a benefit to me.  However, what I think it will do is create MORE PROFIT for the health care industry by pushing the older, more vulnerable customers, into the Medicare system while FORCING MILLIONS OF YOUNGER AMERICANS to buy what one person I listened to tonight termed “their crappy products.”  I’m sure Obama, along with all the other “leaders” in Washington will claim this to be historic legislation – and, to be sure, I hope they’re right and I’m wrong – but, when you think about it, the REAL SOLUTION would be to open up Medicare to EVERYONE and cut these cutthroat, profit oriented MIDDLE MEN completely out of the health care picture.  THAT WOULD BE THE REAL PRACTICAL APPROACH to the health care dilemma in America – but it wasn’t even “on the table.”

This is just another example of trying to do something that “looks good” but doesn’t “rock the boat” too much.  Keep all the big companies and Wall Street happy.  It appears to me that from the Washington DC perspective the “heartland” of America is on Wall Street.  I could go on – for example, the Iraq policy of Obama – ABSOLUTELY NOTHING CREATIVE OR COURAGEOUS – simply letting the clock tick as we “allow” the Bush negotiated policy to “run out.” (and, in this case, I believe we are all in for a surprise when we see how many Americans are staying in Iraq and for how long)  Then there’s the deficit issue.  Bush/Cheney left a budget deficit of something like 1.2 to 1.5 TRILLION DOLLARS for their last budget – which of course is the budget Obama’s been forced to deal with in his first year – for those who don’t know, IT’S STILL HAPPENING.  Obama could have taken a courageous stand regarding the “Bush tax cuts” and REPEALED THEM UPON ENTERING OFFICE,  but no, he’s going to just allow them to run out – AGAIN nothing courageous or different in my mind.  And, I could spend volumes writing about Afganistan – which I believe could be Obama’s “waterloo” as one racist senator from South Carolina tried to make the health care bill.  Many of Obama’s supporters will be deflated from the original decision, but come 2012 when we’re still “mired” in Afganistan it will no longer be Bush’s fiasco, it will be Obama’s “blunder.”  In fact, I’m sure that with most Americans, the “surge” in troops into Afganistan has made it Obama’s occupation at this point already.

I could spend my time writing about how disgusting the Republicans are – and, believe me, as every day passes I’m amazed at how they become even MORE DISGUSTING to me – which, based on how ridiculous they have been,  should be IMPOSSIBLE.  But, they seem to continue outdoing themselves.  For example, just the other day I heard Mitch McConnell – the minority leader in the Senate – along with John Boehner of the House complaining that the “Democrats were trying to ‘cut’ Medicare,” and saying how bad this was.  Then, I got home tonight, and there they were again complaining that the “Democrats were trying to ‘expand’ Medicare!”  It’s like a roller coaster with these guys.  The only thing you can count on is that they will oppose EVERYTHING – especially if they think it might lead Obama to be considered a success – that is proposed by Democrats.  They are enough to make me gag.  The sad thing is that we need a vibrant opposition party and these guys are heading for political oblivion.  If they get back in power, we’ll all be IN BIG TROUBLE.  However, despite the absurdity of the Republicans, I still refuse to be blindly loyal to President Obama!  I REALLY want the change “we can believe in” for my children and grandchildren – NOT MORE (ALMOST) THE SAME!