According to Eugene Robinson, as noted in his Washington Post column "Views", President Obama deserves "some overdue credit". I say
baloney to Mr. Robinson's "Views". We are worse off than on the day that the President was sworn into office.
Mr. Robinson says that the Expectations of the new president were absurdly high. I agree with the
absurdly but who promoted and pushed those Expectations?.....the national media and then candidate Obama's own campaign staff. There was all sort of rhetorical flourish and promises for
CHANGE and
HOPE and transparency in his new administration. I have not seen much of that as reflected in Pres. Obama's approval ratings; in fact they seem to be nosediving even further.
Mr. Robinson goes on to further state that Pres. Obama should be given credit in at least four areas:
- The pull out of the last U.S. Combat Troops in Iraq
- The bail out of General Motors to the tune of $50 billion dollars
- The containment of the Gulf oil spill.
- The President's statement at the Ramadan dinner in regards to the mosque controversy.
In regards to #1: the prudence and wisdom of this action will not be determined in the short run but history and historians will determine if this was a wise action or a political one.
In regards to #2: the creation of "Government Motors" with the government owning 61% of the company; was this truly a move to save the company that did not deserve to be saved because of a poor business plan or was it a gift to the United Auto Workers Union for all that labor did to get the President elected.
In regards to #3: the circus that followed the oil spill and the deaths of eleven oil rig workers, if it was not such a sad and massive catastrophe, could be viewed at best as the government bureaucracy working at its best to get in the way of actions by BP, the State and private citizens to clean up the mess. To date the scientific authorities believe that at least 80% of the oil is still in the Gulf...so much for
containment.
In regards to #4: It is of interest that the President stated his or I should say the U.S. Constitution's stance on the "mosque at ground zero" issue before a group of Muslims to supposedly gain the "high ground" on this issue but would not discuss his personal opinion, to the rank and file American community, regarding the appropriateness and wisdom of an element of the Muslim community which is pushing the building of this Muslim mosque and center.
These are the reasons that I disagree with Mr. Robinson. President Obama is not due any overdue credit at this time. Let time and history be the judge of his Presidency and decisions.
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