The other night as I watched that Barnum & Bailey’s Circus otherwise known as the Republican Candidates debate, I thought 2 things. 1) Despite my B&B's rib, they actually said some OK things, and the only one who looked like a deer in the headlights (on all answers) was Rick Santorum, who of course is the leader in all national GOP polls. Huh? And 2) Barack Obama is a pretty good president.
I will not back off my stance that Barack has not, at points, been nearly tough enough when it comes to getting his important policies pushed through the House and Senate. Age and experience will help that. There is just no way a guy as smart and capable as Barack Obama should EVER get pushed around by someone like John Boehner. Barack is always the smartest person in the policy-making room, and to be honest, this country hasn’t seen things much different from that since 1988. What’s 1988, you ask? That’s the last time this country "legitimately" elected a GOP Candidate as President. George H.W. Bush.
Clinton crushed both Bush and Dole. GW Bush did NOT beat Al Gore in 2000 (although he was reelected in 04 because you can’t change pilots mid flight), and Obama destroyed McCain in 2008. And there is NO WAY, let me repeat NO WAY any of these GOPers are going to beat Obama in Nov. In fact I think Obama has quietly had a brilliant first term (more on that in a moment) and is bracing to have a historically-great second term, and in the end of it all, may go down as one of this country’s greatest President’s ever.
Let’s talk Barack’s first term. He took over an economy that Bush had jack hammered into the bottom of the dried riverbed at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, with his pointless war in Iraq and his system that protected the rich and devoured the middle class. When Barack took the Oath of Office, this nation was on the brink of a 2nd Great Depression. Bush was a war mongering Herbert Hoover, nothing more. If you think that our current economic struggles (which are getting better every day) are Obama’s fault alone, you're not getting it. To understand how great Barack’s 1st term has been, we must revisit GW’s two terms. In those eight years we lost the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, 4 commercial flights, the City of New Orleans, and thousands of American Troopers, and counting, he allowed the American Housing Market to sink to the bottom of a black hole with zero regulation. Oh yeah, speaking of holes, he never “rooted” Osama bin Laden out of any hole, like he promised, and promised, and promised.
Enter Barack Obama. In these last 3.5 years he has slowly steadied the economic ship. Has he spent? You bet he has. Did he save the Auto Industry, a mark of American pride and power all over the world? You double bet he did?! Let GM go bankrupt? Get real, GOP. Some things are about pride and power. He ended that ridiculous war in Iraq. He’s going to win this fight for Obama Care. He’s got the job market ebbing upward, unemployment ebbing down. He is slowly reversing the bombing of the housing market by big banks. And he got Osama bin Laden, only the greatest military capture in U.S. History.
All this while a GOP House and Senate fought him tooth and nail on every last issue. Why? Just to see him fail. To hell with what's good for the old US of A. And later on some Governor wags her finger in his face, a metaphor of the disrespect that has held him down his entire term. All this disrespect for a man who has done everything he said he was going to do. Hum, what other President has had this kind of treatment while cleaning up the country's mess? Who? I can’t think of anybody. We respected George Bush if he got through a speech without stumbling all over himself. Why don't we respect this Prez?
The criticism of Obama, I don’t get it. I really think we have a brilliant, steady, well-spoken leader in the White House right now. His plans for turning America around are solid and middle-class based. The MC is the wheelhouse of any successful society. The GOP can spin their wheels talking about religion, abortion, and gay marriage. Nobody cares! It's the economy. It's my job. It's my bank account. On that point I haven’t heard one concrete plan from the right since 1988. Remember: "Read my lips." Oh wait, never mind, we know how that turned out.
I’m not a Democrat or a Republican, I’m really not. I like to listen to everyone. But lately it seems like the GOP has gone from the wealthy, white-collar party to the Larry the Cable Guy Get er Done Party. I just wish the GOP powers that be would get out of the way on this one (I know they can't of course), admit they got nothing but some guy named Romney who can't win, and let’s go with the hot hand. It’s Obama’s time now, there’s no stopping that, and I believe that when his time is done, it will go down as a Glory Age in American History. We always wondered what would have happened if JFK got to finish the job. Maybe history is giving us a second chance.
Watch the GOP Debate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSF6LdquXR8
Brian Huba
2/24/12
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