Let me start my thoughts for this evening by reiterating that I WANT PRESIDENT OBAMA TO SUCCEED!  And, my reservations about his Presidency are nothing personal toward Obama.  Yes, I voted for him, I sent him money, and I believe he’s a good and honorable man (as politicians go).  I think President Obama is a good father and a good husband, and I would be shocked if ever there was a report about him carousing around such as the recent “undoing” of Tiger Woods.  I was stunned when I heard about Tiger’s transgressions and would be moreso should it ever happen with Obama.

Of course, it seems in our present day America anything is possible.  John Edwards was the populist candidate who made the most sense to me and he had appeared on several public appearances with his wife who was battling cancer, so it about floored me when I heard that he was unfaithful to her.  I’ve often wondered, since finding that out, whether he would have accepted the Democratic nomination had he garnered enough primary delegates despite the FACT he knew he was a scandal waiting to happen.  I mean, had Edwards won the Democratic nomination we could be facing today’s monumental problems with an administration of McCain/Palin.  Everytime I think of that possibility I lose more respect (if there’s any left) for Edwards.  When people tell me these politician’s private lives shouldn’t matter, well – it’s the incredible dishonesty (and, in most cases, hypocricy) that really turns me off.  That all being said, I just don’t see President Obama as someone who would betray the trust of his family.

OK, where am I going with this you ask?  Well, I’ve been writing about my “red flags” regarding President Obama since before he was inaugurated – and, more intently as time has moved on with him nearing his first anniversary in office.  I’m finding myself making similar criticisms of our President to the Republicans whom I’ve come to despise, which is a bit unnerving to me, but my criticisms are from almost the opposite direction of the “right wingers.”  I’ve said some things OVER AND OVER in the hopes that someone with some connection to Obama would miraculously tell him to start listening more to certain 6th grade school teachers and less to some of his advisors (Rahm Emmanuel, for one).  And, now I’m seeing more and more of my predictions being made from people in positions which might actually get heard (I’m not so arrogant to think that these people came to their conclusions based on reading my blog – my thoughts are that Obama’s “advisors” should be able to figure this stuff out for themselves if people like me can – I hope it’s his advisors creating the problem and not him).

First, let me elaboborate on criticisms I have that I’m hearing from the “tea bagger crowd” – ie Glenn Beck, the Limbaugh “ditto heads,” the Cheney’s, and essentially Repbulicans in general.  They have been complaining from the start that President Obama is a great orator who lacks substance.  Well, I have found myself having the same feelings, knowing however, if the President met my expectations regarding “substance” these Republicans would be considerably more upset than they are.  However, I believe it would be fairer to say Obama’s speeches are far superior to the “substance” I’m seeing in policy, and it’s this substance which is bothering me.  I expected to see a President who was REALLY committed to what he termed the “Change we can believe in.”  I’ve been struggling to understand my own thoughts on why Obama’s “substance” – that is the decisions coming down from his administration – was bothering me so and, today, while listening to the radio program “Ring of Fire” with a commentator named Mike Papantonio it all came together for me.  Papantonio used the term “Bush-lite” in describing Obama and “the light went off” in my head.  That’s the perfect term for why I’ve been feeling so frustrated with our new President.  Too much of his “substance” reminds me of Bush.

I’ll elaborate more on that shortly, but first – the second area I find myself with similar feelings to the “right wingers.”  They say our President is “weak” regarding foreign policy – with the Cheney “crowd” claiming he’s making us “less safe.”  Well, in response to that I have to initially say that there’s NO WAY anyone could make us less safe than what the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld group – with TOTAL capitulation by the Republican controlled congress – did, but I’m almost BITTERLY disappointed in Obama’s apparent unwillingness to take on the mammoth military industrial complex which President Eisenhower warned in my youth could be the demise of this nation – for that matter the world.  His words, “The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist” are becoming more and more profound as we (Americans) seemingly cannot extricate ourselves from two disastrous occupations which have been mishandled for upwards of 8 LONG years!  In his failure to stand up to this group of corporations and militarists who are driving this nation toward bankruptcy (probably already there – for all intents and purposes) while they glean TRILLIONS from American taxpayers through huge profits derived from “no-bid” contracts in Iraq/Afganistan makes me feel he’s “weak” in an entirely different way from that of the “tea baggers” who, actually, should be applauding Obama for some of his military decisions.

If you’ve been around here before, much of my objections with Obama are redundant – but, I believe, getting more relevent all the time.  For starters – and the thing that has “burned” me the most, would be Obama’s lack of will in holding the previous administration accountable.  Almost as if there’s an “unwritten rule” that Presidents don’t investigate Presidents – like doctors don’t testify against doctors, lawyers against lawyers, etc.  Well, the problem with that “rule” is that the United States of America DESPERATELY needs to be OVER the misdeeds of the Bush administration!  And, if Obama succeeds in “looking forward and not backward” the torture, the illegal wiretapping (which Obama/Holder are defending in court), the outing of a CIA agent, the war profiteering, the election fraud, and the Wall Street meltdown (where you had a Treasury Secretary “bailing out” his former company – Goldman Sachs – in order to “prevent a financial meltdown” – and, presumably to protect his holdings in Goldman Sachs stock – I’ve always thought that if his stock was in Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns his actions would have come a bit sooner) – all of this will be imbedded in America’s history as OK – because we did nothing about it.  And, it will all likely happen again – in fact, I  believe most of the abuses are probably still ongoing – due to the lack of will of President Obama to stop them!

Then there’s the economy.  One of my MAJOR red flags went up when I heard that he had chosen Tim Geithner as his Treasury Secretary (it only took a little research to figure out that he had his hand in the meltdown he was being hired to stop) and Larry Summers – one of President Clinton’s advisors who was instrumental in the deregulating which went on in the last years of Clinton’s Presidency leading to many of the problems that undermined our entire economy.  Kind of like hiring the “fox to take care of the hen house” in both cases – Geithner and Summers.  And, the end result of this has been predictable.  We got a “stimulus” package that was too small to generate enough jobs fast enough to prevent the massive unemployment which is crippling this nation as I’m writing this post plus an attitude that we fix Wall Street first and hope that “main street” follows along ASAP.  Of course, most economists are saying that main street is going to lag behind for several more years.  This is not only bad for “main street” but it’s bad for all the progressives who voted Obama in, because the likelihood of him winning a second term is dwindling every day he continues to pursue these “Bush-lite” policies.

I have to say that I’m even expecting the health care legislation to get passed, but for it to end up changing very little.  I’m hopeful that the CBO is correct when it predicts that my outrageous insurance premiums will actually go down – although I’m very skeptical – but I’m anticipating that the legislation will end up making the insurance industry even stronger and even more difficult to deal with in the years to come should this legislation not solve the problem of health care eating a huge hole in the American budget – from the average family’s budget, to the US government’s budget.  And, if there ends up being a “public option” it will be so watered down that very few people will even be eligible to excercise the “option” of purchasing it – making it, for all intents and purposes, either a non-factor or a negative in the fight for health care as a right in America.

And, then there’s that nasty subject of foreign policy.  Obama’s actions remind me of the saying that when you try to make everyone happy you end up making no one happy.  Well, for starters, President Obama can not make any of the Republicans happy.  That’s just the way it is.  The Beck’s, the Limbaugh’s, the O’Reilly’s, the Boehner’s, the McConnell’s, the McCain’s, and I could go on – none of them are EVER going to be happy with a Democrat, and ESPECIALLY a Democrat whose father is from Kenya!  Again, THAT’S JUST THE WAY IT IS!  So, I really don’t understand why President Obama seems so intent on pleasing them – or at least that is the way it appears to me.  Let’s start with the disaster in Iraq.  The US is approaching the TRILLIONTH dollar wasted on that FIASCO – every penny of which is BORROWED MONEY!  I distinctly remember Obama telling me and the rest of America that ALL our troops would be home within 16 months of his taking office.  THAT IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS I SUPPORTED HIM.  He had opposed the invasion RIGHT FROM THE START!  Well, we now have a plan to remove less than half of the troops in about a 20 month timeframe with about 50,000 to 75,000 “non-combat” troops left behind for an undetermined amount of time.  He says they will come home according to the “time-table” negotiated by Bush, but I’ll even believe that when I see it.  WHAT REALLY BUGS ME IS there was nothing courageous about any decision he made regarding Iraq!  At best, we will get the withdrawal according to Bush!  UNBELIEVABLE TO ME!

Then there’s Afganistan.  It’s true that the Bush administration left a horribly mis-managed MESS in Afganistan when they moved back to Texas.  It’s true that the Afgans have been “abandoned” by one country after another (including the US on at least two occasions), it’s true that the Taliban has reconstituted itself and is moving back into Afganistan, it’s true that al Qaeda is right across the border in Pakistan and that Pakistan is key to the problem “left behind” by Bush/Cheney, and it’s true that Pakistan has a nuclear arsenal which would be disastrous in the hands of al Qaeda or any other extremist group in or around Pakistan – plus, it’s true that Obama, in the campaign, pledged to refocus on Afganistan in order to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.  All that stuff is true, but first putting 21,000 additional troops into Afganistan shortly after the inauguration and now an additional 30,000 (which will probably be 40,000 with support troops), it seems to me, almost guarantees that the US is the next in a long line of nations to bankrupt themselves by being “bogged down” in Afganistan.  I really don’t understand how we can justify an additional 60 BILLION per year in Afganistan when we can’t afford to fix our hiways and bridges, we can’t afford health care for our people, we can’t afford to educate our children, and – according to Republicans (and some Democrats) we can’t even afford to keep supporting the unemployed workers in our nation.  Can you imagine what that $60,000,0000,000 (written out for emphasis) would do for the Afgan people if we just supplied it as aid to help the country with the poverty problem which is the root cause of the “insurgency?” (or what it could do for our nation?)

I know Obama said he wanted to finish the job of bringing bin Laden to justice.  But, getting bogged down for years – militarily – in Afganistan is more about our military leaders being unable to EVER accept the “appearance” of defeat (remember, Patreaus and the rest of them got their start in Viet Nam – and their determination to make sure it doesn’t happen again will probably make sure it happens again!) and our President being too “weak” to say NO to them.  The “surge” in Iraq did nothing more than put off the inevitable – unless we stay there for a generation – God forbid – and now they want to do the same thing in Afganistan.  These 30,000 troops will eventually be at least 2 to 3 times that amount – I can see almost a direct transfer of commitment from Iraq to Afganistan – with the result being a large segment of those who voted for Obama “sitting out” the next presidential election.

President Obama has pretty much taken the bait from the Republicans.  In his determination to get bipartisanship on his legislation and appear to be “strong” regarding Iraq and Afganistan he is making the unthinkable possible.  And, what would that be?  Well, at first thought you might think – if you’re trying to stay one step ahead of my reasoning – ANOTHER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT.  Well, you’d be partially correct.  That is my genuine fear.  Obama has already lost ONE VOTE for sure – which is mine,  based on his refusal to investigate Bush/Cheney thereby endorsing torture (even though he says the US doesn’t torture anymore – believe me, the next Republican President will just laugh at that “promise”).  There are credible reports that unless President Obama makes significant changes to his decision making up to 40% of “progressives” will sit out the next elections.  Many are like me – they won’t vote for a Republican – but they’re not going to endorse “Bush-lite” policies either.  As stated above, if you guessed my fear of another Republican president you were partially correct  because my real fear is another BUSH!  I realize all the publicity is on Sarah Palin, but I can virtually guarantee you that while Barack Obama is weakening his own position for re-election there is someone hiding in the “weeds” who should make all progressives queezy in their stomachs.  My biggest fear:  President Obama’s “Bush-lite” policies will lead to a real Bush – Jeb Bush in 2012!  As I’ve often said on this site regarding my concerns about our President – I hope I’m wrong.  And, in this case, I REALLY hope I’m wrong!

If you’ve spent much time around this site you know that I’m not too happy with President Obama, whom I supported in the last election, but I’m disgusted with Republicans as they are presently “constituted.”  That is to say, I fully believe in a vibrant two party system of government where you have legitimate debate on pressing issues and ultimately end up with bipartisan legislation which represents the best of both points of view.  However, since the late sixties when I started voting I’ve watched as bipartisanship has slowly ebbed into political oblivion while partisan “rancor” has emerged as the “way of life” in Washington DC – much to the chagrine of most Americans in the “heartland.”  I believe the real deteriorization escalated after the Watergate scandal which was a time when Republicans would vote alongside Democrats and vice versa depending on the legislation.  I don’t remember a time back then (it probably happened occasionally) when a really important issue would be decided without a single vote from someone “crossing over the isle.” 

The original FISA legislation, for example – which was passed in 1978 came from the Senate committee chaired by Frank Church, a Democrat from Idaho, working alongside John Tower and Barry Goldwater – both as conservative and Republican as they came – all of them recognizing the importance of Congress requiring warrants for government agencies before they could invade the privacy of American citizens.  And, the Republicans of that era didn’t just “roll over” without defending “their” President during the Watergate hearings of the mid-1970’s, but when it became apparent that Richard Nixon had “obstructed justice” they didn’t practice “blind loyalty” as present day Republicans would, but actually “encouraged” Nixon to resign.  Back then there were Republicans like Everett Dirksen, Mark Hatfield, Bob Packwood, Nelson Rockefeller, the aforementioned Tower and Goldwater and others who were independent thinkers and very honorable men.  They were truly great statesmen.  However, this era also spawned the likes of Lee Atwater and  Roger Ailes which eventually led to Karl Rove – men who were/are political strategists who would do anything in order to win elections.  I believe this was the era when the idea of the “permanent republican majority” was born. 

In the 1980’s the “conservative” wing of the Republican party began to push out the men listed above (Dirksen, Rockefeller, etc.) and Ronald Reagan emerged as the “icon” who’s image still drives the Republicans to this day.  They won the election in 1980 by supporting a “third party” candidate – John Anderson, a liberal Republican – who siphoned votes from disenchanted Democrats unhappy with Jimmy Carter and they’ve been using “dirty tricks” to win elections ever since (it’s also been widely reported that the Reagan “team” worked a “deal” with the Iran government which was holding 53 American hostages to insure they weren’t released prior to the election insuring Carter’s demise).  Republicans have continually represented the interests of the few but have managed to masterfully use wedge issues and various dishonest techniques to convince average middle class voters to vote against their own self interests since the emergence of Reagan.  In a sense you have to give it to them – they are very good at winning elections with the philosophy that the end justifies the means.  Both Bush’s won elections subsequent to the Reagan years using less than honorable tactics.  Remember the Willie Horton ads of the George HW Bush campaign which pretty much undid Michael Dukakis?  And I certainly will never forget the George W Bush “win” in Florida set up by Bush’s brother Jeb and Florida’s Secretary of State Kathleen Harris in concert with the Supreme Court – an election which will have a still undetermined negative effect on this nation for generations to come.  And, of course, there is ample evidence that GW Bush cheated his way to re-election in 2004 as well through widespread voter suppression and fraud in Ohio which was enabled by Ohio’s Secretary of State who was also Bush’s state campaign chairman – a conflict of interest that I still can’t believe could happen in America without challenge in the 21st century (not to mention the “swift boating” of John Kerry during that campaign).  Again, the Republicans are REALLY GOOD at winning elections through ANY MEANS POSSIBLE. (and, the flip side – Democrats seem, at least to me, way to willing to allow them to do this)

The end result of all this from the Republican side is we have a group which has been marginalized and is dwindling in size, a group which is now resorting to “loyalty oaths” for anyone interested in “leadership” positions (I honestly don’t understand how those two things – loyalty oaths and leadership – can go together – except maybe in a place like Germany circa early 1930’s), a group which has become overtly racist (not a surprise to many who’ve been paying attention – just totally out front with it at the “tea bagger” events and such), and a group which has “locked arms” in a unified effort to make sure that President Obama FAILS!  Well, as mentioned above, I’M PRETTY MUCH DISGUSTED WITH THESE REPUBLICANS!  So, where’s the problem I would have with our new President – he’s got to be better than all of that, right?

Well, for starters, while I honestly see the importance of “bipartisanship” – as mentioned above – NOT AT ALL COSTS as our President evidently believes!  I got tired of President Obama’s “overtures” to the Republicans shortly after he took office.  And, he still hasn’t given up the attempts.  In the process he’s allowed the “Bush Crime family” to go free (if you’ve been around here much – you know that I’m having a hard time forgiving Obama for this – in fact I’m not sure I EVER WILL – I think I keep mentioning it on the REMOTE chance that an Obama person might happen on this site, read some of my reasoning, and talk some sense into the President – and we could end up with justice DELAYED), we ended up with a woefully inadequate “stimulus” bill in exchange for three Republican votes, Obama is even defending Bush/Cheney’s illegal wiretapping policies in court, and health care “reform” will end up being a watered down “windfall” for the health insurance industry.  And, now we are sending another 30,000 troops into Afganistan.

What we are faced with as citizens of this nation is a two party system where the party on the “right” – the Republicans – consists of a marginalized group of dishonest, disengenuous, authoritarian minded conduits for a continued policy of practicing massive CORPORATE WELFARE while fighting any and all attempts to provide assistance for the “least among us.”  On the left – well, I don’t think there is a “left” anymore.  I believe the left is really the conservatives and the “right” has become the radical fringe – but, for convenience sake lets call the Democrats the “left.”  The Democrats are a bunch of bought and paid for “corporatists” who seemingly have a connection to the “everyday” man/woman – but don’t have the courage of their supposed convictions.  And, our Democratic President fits right in with the majority of the Democrats in the Congress.  While many more Americans than myself are LONGING for the Democrats (or Republicans for that matter – SOMEONE) to stand up for the restoration of the middle class – IT JUST AINT HAPPENING!  The excuses I keep hearing from all of these politicians reminds me of the excuses I get from my sixth grade students.  It’s almost like they don’t want to “rock the boat” – WHICH NEEDS TO BE ROCKED – because it would interfere with their “protocal.” (and the flow of money from the corporations who virtually own them)

Well, I (and I believe millions of others) say TO HELL WITH THE PROTOCAL!  Our government can find the wherewithall to “nation build” in Iraq and Afganistan to the tune of a couple hundred BILLION DOLLARS per year – yet we can’t seem to find the will to “nation build” in our own country.  We can’t find the money to create jobs for the MILLIONS of Americans who are losing everything they’ve spent their lives working for – INCLUDING THEIR HOMES.  We can spend what is going to amount to 3 – 4 TRILLION DOLLARS over the next 10 years  to occupy two countries which we should have little or NO interest in, yet we can’t find the will to spend ONE TRILLION over the same time period to guarantee all Americans affordable health care.  Our Congress didn’t hesitate to FEED WALL STREET what could conceivably end up amounting to tens of TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS to prevent their risky investments from bankrupting the companies which have managed to become “too big to fail,” but when it comes to providing unemployment benefits and food stamps which represent a SMALL FRACTION of this Wall Street bailout expense we see Republicans BLOCKING legislation, and Democrats quietly going along with it.

When I think back to my original enthusiasm for President Obama this all seems like a bad dream.  However, I (and many others) clearly misjudged him.  He’s not following through on his promises to get the troops (all of them) out of Iraq in 16 months, to uphold the American tradition that NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW, that waterboarding is torture, and where there is evidence of criminal behavior the laws will be fairly enforced – HE’S UNDERMINED THE BASIC TENETS OF OUR LEGAL SYSTEM AS MUCH AS BUSH DID! – he’s apparently willing to sign a health care bill which does not include the so-called “public option” – which, even if included, will be watered down and nothing more than an option for those people the insurance industry wants no part of – therefore being destined for FAILURE from the start, and there are many other areas where President Obama is proving to his progressive supporters that they either misunderstood his positions or he was disengenuous in the campaign.  The 30,000 troops going to Afganistan was predictable based on what I heard during the campaign, but I understood him to say the purpose of our involvement in Afganistan would be to “FINISH THE JOB” regarding Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.  So progressives now have another area of discontent with our President:  Obama’s campaign promise to go after bin Laden seems to have evolved into nation building in Afganistan! America continues to wait for leadership which chooses principled conviction over political expediency.

(As I watch our nation look the other way while our unemployed and underemployed numbers skyrocket I’ve decided to reread Karl Marx “Communist Manifesto.” I will have more to say on that at a later date, but it is facinating reading the predictions of how greed and capitalism “mix.” It would not surprise me if Marx’ philosophy didn’t re-emerge in intellectual settings as the discussion about the growing “lower class” (proletariat) intensifies in America – as it undoubtedly will should our leaders continue to delude themselves into thinking the recession is “over” because Wall Street is on the upswing)