PRESIDENT OBAMA - SOME POINTS OF DEFENSE AND SOME POINTS OF CRITICISM (FROM AN OBAMA SUPPORTER)

Let me start off with several obvious truths….

1.) There is no such thing nor was there ever such a thing as death panels in any of the various versions of the health care legislation before Congress….Sarah Palin and other right wing minions have been attempting to strike fear into Middle America with these baseless charges….They are disreputable scoundrels….Here’s a fact check….http://tv.rightcelebrity.com/?p=3037# ….The real death panels in America are called insurance companies and they sentence people to die every day by refusing or denying coverage.

2.) Of course racism is a factor in how President Obama is being treated….I have never seen a president talked about with such a lack of respect by people who really matter not even Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky scandal….When Rep. Joe Wilson shouted liar during the state of the union, it was the actions of a white Southern male of a certain generation who is not comfortable with a black man in a power position….The equivalent of calling a black man “boy” to degrade him and make him less than human….The Republican party only likes black people when they have effectively been neutered or made “white” so to speak such as Clarence Thomas….The way they talk about the first lady is also disgusting and speaks volumes about what passes as political debate from the right wing these days.

3.) I still think President Obama is very lucky to have the enemies he does….When they are not getting caught with their pants down, they are following Glenn Beck a known schizophrenic who has to take behavioral medication….It’s a good thing if he becomes the voice of the Republican party….Good for the Democrats that is.

Now the bad news….

The Obama Administration so far has been hampered not by their policy goals which are correct and why I voted for him in the first place but rather by their priorities….

I totally agree the health care system needs to be reformed but with unemployment at 10% and economic growth continuing to be sluggish does it have to be now?....A reinvigorated Democratic party fresh off spearheading a recovery would have a lot better chance of getting health care legislation through Congress.

The bill that is taking shape is filled with exceptions, compromises, and pandering to the special interests….When weakling Senator Max Baucus caved in on the public option, the bill ceased to have any heft at all….What’s the point of this? Other than getting a bill passed….But if it’s a nothing bill then it is really just a hollow action

And that is my criticism of President Obama and his administration….He plays to the camera a bit too much in a way that is more like showboating and less like getting to work….His failed pitch of Chicago for the Olympics in 2016 was nothing short of a disaster….I don’t understand why this was even on his “To Do” list….Who gives a you know what about the Olympics when there are so many other more important problems?....It looks like he does not have his priorities in line.

I think it is far far too early to call him a failed president as some are doing and I still have “hope” (if that is not too clichéd a term) for his administration….Foreign policy wise he has hit all the right notes and I think he’s been great in that area.

But I also think he needs to sit down with his senior advisors and his cabinet and figure out what is important and remember why he was elected in the first place….Clinton had the same problem and was able to rebound after 1994 with a better agenda to push for….Let’s hope Obama can do the same.