Dear Friends,
I vacillate between the naive sentimentality that President Obama can really bring change and hope to a dangerously fractured nation and hopeless cynicism that nobody can change the way Washington works. The President's speech tonight reminded me why I was so enthusiastic about him as a candidate and so hopeful about what he could accomplish. His style, tone and ability to communicate are brilliant. In a manner far more genteel than anything that I could do, he made clear what his values were and called out those that would obstruct the ability of the government to govern.
The policy part of the speech was way too conservative for me, but his defense of government spending as the way to get people back to work was articulate and understandable. His spending freeze is still dumb, but if he gets the spending through Congress this year and that sets the bar higher and then if the freeze is conditioned on an improved jobs market, then maybe it is ok.
Now we need to see what he actually does. He offered no approach to getting health care reform through, but let's see what happens. He again pledged to end Don't Ask Don't Tell but he has done that before. He pushed for the financial reforms and higher taxes on the wealthy and banks, but let's see. My cynicism is showing again.
If we have a reasonably educated electorate and they were listening and if President Obama and the Democrats follow through on both the tone and substance of the speech, ie both offering to work with the Republicans but calling them out when they are just saying "no", our country will be well served and the Democrats are likely to perform fairly well in the mid-term elections. If the President and the Democrats fail to follow through consistent with the speech, our country will suffer and the Democrats will get what they deserve at the polls.
Thanks for reading (I have been told by family members that I should not expect comments but) and please comment (I will not give up),
The Unabashed Liberal
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Dobby,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your posts---I am not the most politically astute person--but your blog presents points that most of us are thinking, just not saying out loud. At this point in our country's history, your "party" shouldn't matter---it should come down to doing what is best for the country as a whole. I would love it if we could truly see some intelligent dialogue going on in Congress, instead of the usual "stuff". I believe the founders of our country regarded serving in Congress as a privilege and honor, not a career with a terrific pension and health care program. I think our representatives forget that point........