The Economist is trying to come to terms with their endorsement of Barack Obama last year. As I’ve written before the fact that the administration is woefully adrift and apparently unprepared should not be shocking. The president wasn’t qualified for the position. He has never served as an executive and has never run anything successfully his entire life. Obama’s struggles the first two months should be expected, and he has plenty of time to grow into the position. Fortunately for Obama the United States isn’t Kentucky basketball. Four years is an eternity in politics. The Economist takes Obama to task on several different fronts, but I think this is the most important area of concern.
If Mr Obama cannot work with the Republicans, he needs to be certain that he controls his own party. Unfortunately, he seems unable to. Put bluntly, the Democrats are messing him around. They are pushing pro-trade-union legislation (notably a measure to get rid of secret ballots) even though he doesn’t want them to do so; they have been roughing up the bankers even though it makes his task of fixing the economy much harder; they have stuffed his stimulus package and his appropriations bill with pork, even though this damages him and his party in the eyes of the electorate. Worst of all, he is letting them get away with it.
The president needs to rein in the leadership of the Congress. Pelosi and Reid are way outside the American mainstream. Obama will appoint leftist anti-property rights judges and the left will be happy. The right to have an abortion and for homosexuals to get married is far more important to liberals that the constitutional property rights and they can’t get these “rights” through the legislature. “Progressives” view the constitution as a living document created by racist white men who not only owned slaves (Tom Harkin), but also believed in God.
There’s nothing like a good abortion protest to bring out the God haters.
The picture above is appropriate. “Progressives” also don’t like to take the constitution literally either. For those scoring at home Bob Avakian is an Atheist and a Communist (i.e. he has a perfect pro-choice record). In order for Obama to successfully serve the “progressives” and the rest of the country he’ll have to stand up to his party in Cogress and throw bones to his base on appointments. Does this sound familiar (See: Bush, See: Clinton)?
i hope you know the constitution better than your mentor, rush limbaugh.
Brown, am I supposed to believe you know anything about Rush Limbaugh other than second hand media reports? Give me a break. Who are you trying to kid?