According to the February
7th Rasmussen Reports
Daily Presidential
Tracking Poll, 27 percent of the
nation’s voters “Strongly Approve”
of President Barack
Obama’s performance as the
leader of our nation. 37 percent
“Strongly Disapprove,” and
overall 50 percent “somewhat
disapprove.”
But you have to wonder,
what are these statistics really
based on? We all focus on the big
issues – economic downturn,
housing, the war, etc. – issues
that can’t be solved overnight, let
alone four short years. The sad
reality is that whenever something
doesn’t get done, or not as
effectively as was hoped, the
president takes the blame even in
situations where it is not completely
deserved.
The public
wants
instant
gratification.
If it
didn’t get
done yesterday,
then we’ll
continue
to complain
today. But
if you step
back from
that quick
to judge
mentality,
you can
see that he has accomplished
quite a bit in two years.
The sheer
amount of domestic
legislation
passed by
Obama’s government
is a good
place to begin.
Numerous financial
reform and
stimulus bills have
been passed in
order to deal with
our struggling
economy. We even
got the Health
Care bill passed.
Not everyone may
be happy with it as
a whole, but it did
get passed, which is
a great achievement
for such a divided government (it
was a 220-215 vote split).
Foreign policy is where
Obama gets a lot of negative assessment,
either because they
view his actions as too in depth
or not in depth enough. But the
important thing to realize is that
the main object of US foreign
policy in this period is the war in
the Middle East, and a war can’t
be solved so simply. It is a longterm
situation, and delicate, as
our relations with Iran, Iraq, and
Afghanistan have been strained
for about forty years now.
This is not to say that
the President is faultless. I’m not
writing as an “Obama apologist.”
But the point is that we need to
view his presidency through a
lens of realism. Those who say
he is “terrible” are not being honest
simply because they want
him to fail; at the same time,
those who say he is “fantastic”
simply want him to succeed. Our
goal in assessing the president
should be to remain apolitical to
the greatest extent. If we can’t be
realistic, then we have no perspective
whatsoever.
So yes, Obama has accomplished
a considerable
amount for someone in such a
difficult position. But if anything
has become clear during these
past two years, it is that Obama’s
greatest fault lies in his efforts at
negotiation. Do not get me
wrong;
the
President
is a
brilliant
man,
well educated and with a great
understanding of what needs to
get done in order to turn this
country around. But he often will
give up a point of negotiation too
quickly in order to gain something
that may not be of equal
value. Too devoted to the idea of
bipartisanship, he has almost
turned it into a battle over scraps.
Also, although it is true
that there is no way to turn the
country around as quickly as
people would like and that we
should make the effort to be
more patient, it is neither reasonable
nor fair to ask those suffering
to be patient.
In many ways, the notion
of a mid way assessment is
silly. Much has happened in
these first two years, and much
more will happen in those remaining.
27% of the population
believes that we are generally
headed in the right direction, but
who can predict with any degree
of accuracy how Obama’s presidency
will conclude? Every one
of us, the president included, is
subject to the same uncertainties.
I’ll end on this note: on
November 5th, 2008, saterical
newspaper The Onion published
an article which stated, “African-
American man Barack Obama,
47, was given the least-desirable
job in the entire country Tuesday
when he was elected president of
the United States of America…
The job comes with such intense
scrutiny
and so
certain a
guarantee
of
failure
that
only one
other person even bothered applying
for it.”