Obama's presidency has been a total disappointment to me and many of millions of Americans. His candidacy for the presidency of "Yes, we can!" held so much hope and possibility at the time, but has turned to futility in reality.
While I am not so naive as to think that presidential candidates will be able to accomplish all that they promise during the campaign, I have witnessed that just about all of Obama's promises have failed.
He promised to close down "Gitmo", the Guantanamo Bay prison for the worst world terrorists located in Cuba on a U.S. military base. This has not happened and I don't see it happening soon. I believed this to be an important mission for Obama to see that it was closed down.
Prisoners have been held indefinitely without due process of a speedy trial. That is against our U.S. Constitution, but it seems if we hold these terrorists on foreign ground, even though on a U.S. military base, we can imprison them indefinitely and forever. That we finally have let one go back to Saudi Arabia without being able to prove he was and is a terrorist is sad indeed.
And, what is to say, that before long, we will be doing the same to U.S. citizens who happen to be undesirables? Smacks of Nazism if you ask me.
Obama's signature policy, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a disaster. He made certain promises that have not come to fruition for all Americans. While my health insurance has had no changes, too many Americans promised this are finding out through letters from their health insurance companies that this his not so. Although, many of them are probably inferior health insurance policies not valid under the ACA, the appearance is that Obama has lied. And, doesn't America and Americans live for appearances?
The whole situation with the NSA, the National Security Administration, has been a mitigating disaster with its metadata program. Thank heavens that Edward Snowden has presented documents to the media to prove just what has really been going on behind American's backs.
While I am still not able to say Snowden is a hero, he is certainly not the villainous traitor the American government and Obama want to make him out to be. He is no different than Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers back in the 1970's.
I guess we do need whistle blowers among us as I for one am glad to know the NSA and the American government are conducting a surveillance program encompassing nearly all Americans and making decisions using a secret court. Again, this smacks of Nazism.
We cannot be the land of the "free and the brave" with secret surveillance programs and secret courts in session. And, yet, the presidential candidate that promised transparency in his administration, has the largest government spy program of unwitting Americans ever administered in the U.S. I am disappointed that this would happen under Obama's presidency.
And then there are the drone problems. Our drones have killed innocent civilians in the middle east, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries. We have drones flying overhead Americans and filming us. When, will all this stop? Not soon, I fear.
Obama also does not seem to be in charge of his own administration and government. The roll out of the ACA on the government web-site has been a dismal failure. That Obama was not on top of this important policy roll out indicates how out of touch he is with his own cabinet members and the most important policy of his administration, the ACA. Obama has a need for more policy wonks in his administration to make sure his government bureaucracy runs smoothly. Obama has shown a poor choice of people at the top running his administration and the government.
The gridlock between the two political parties in this nation I do attribute to racisim being alive and well in DC and rearing its ugly head. While I do believe some of Obama's problems are caused by an underlying coat of racism just below the surface of American politics, he needs to be better prepared for that and to find ways to better head it off. Part of the problem is his aloof approach to governing and dealing with Republicans. I attribute this racism as the real reason why government was shut down in October.
I believe Obama has created a real malaise in this country because he does not seem to be in charge of his own administration, government, policies or the country. He is certainly not the inspiring candidate we saw in 2008. Perhaps that is because his "handlers" are no longer with his administration and left on his own, he really is not able to be the inspirational leader we need or thought we had.
Again, that is shown by the economic times during his presidential administration. While he did inherit a huge economic problem from George W. Bush, his handling of the stimulus programs, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the economy in general has been tepid and certainly not ground breaking.
For someone who touted change, moving the country forward in the 21st century, transparency in government, and a take charge presidency I can only say at this point Obama has failed. We are further behind in everything; the economy, technology, education, government administration, health care, and the military than ever before.
Perhaps the better question is : Is there any one out there who has the leadership abilities to do what is best for this country, to lead us forward, and to make us strong again? Is greatness out there in a leader or has it died out with the likes of FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy?
Is America the result of great days and leaders gone and long past?
Copyright (c) 2013 Suzannah Wolf Walker all rights reserved
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