Now I'm not sure. Did the unification of Ralph Nader and Ron Paul's campaigns last election cycle actually ultimately win the Presidency? After both those candidates were "locked out" of the election debates two years ago, it appeared that they might just go away--ride into the Gulf Coast sunset. But I'm not sure. It seems that many of their suggestions, though decried by both major parties at the time, have now surfaced to take on great meaning in government.
If so, then the vacuum created by the Obama Administration's unmet promises must have done the trick. It is clear that to date, the current administration has fallen down on many of its campaign promises, de jure and de facto. The "change" that many wanted to believe in was anything but the event horizon anticipated in a whitewash of Bush Administration misfeasance.
The first Presidential edict from our current leader was the absolution for the previous administration. Not only did the Obama forces not pursue probable wrongdoings by Bush, et al, but also in a frenzy of "transition epilepsy," measures were immediately taken to solidify the Bush Administration's obfuscation of its violation of the laws. The insult added to this injury was that the new administration actually pushed to congeal the shaky practices of the previous administration so that in the future, more obfuscation and violation of federal law could continue. Clearly here, the current administration fell down on the job and those words are far too gracious.
Gays were not ushered into the military unless it was through an homage trumpeted to "Taps." The President, in the attempt to appease all his opposition danced on the head of that pin.
Jobs for rank and file Americans ended up cooling on the back burner as well. While Wall Street saw unbridled bonuses and Americans genuflected amidst a fanfare of upheaval, Main Street wasn't allowed to issue to itself the needed trillion and a half dollars to buffer itself from its own rapacious business sector. Those monies were necessary to assure that the "bonus" of a wholesome breakfast was assured for children and the elderly. Though athletes in modern America may be the Gladiators of modern society, bankers are clearly the Caesars. Thumbs up to that?
Initiatives for the poor, and especially the Black poor that represent the most devastated subset of the American economic picture, have not been heard. Meanwhile unemployment of African-American males is upwards of forty percent and rising and Reverend Wright, for all his troubles, is out of a "parishioner." In the interim, right-wing talk show hosts assail the President for his "socialism" and "preference for Muslims and all manner of people of color." What?
Now many liberals, progressives and even some libertarians may attempt to make the best of a bad situation. But the truth is, the Obama Administration has been woefully absent on significant issues that the Presidential campaign highlighted. And for those that would tout the National Health Care achievement represented by the novel new bill recently passed, I say "claptrap." Obama's health care sans the public option and "single-payer" is like your ninety-five year old grandmother. It has no teeth!
Geithner, Axelrod, Emanuel and Clinton round out this administration's failure. Now I respect and appreciate Hillary Clinton. She's gotten a bad rap and is at least as competent as her intellectually powerful hubby. But this administration ran against her "insider" status and then did the practical thing of choosing her as Secretary of State so as to not have all those irate women out there mutiny and go rogue.
Mr. Obama has done nothing about that "tug of war" where the winning "flag" is increasingly being tugged to the side of "team wealth." I appreciate that the forces involved here are so great that attempting to rein them in might seem disingenuous at best. After all, things go better with Koch! But appearances are important and even faking the reining in of those forces would make the American people feel better. Instead, we all are standing around feeling shocked and looking like the young woman who just got slapped by a stranger with her boyfriend stoically looking on. Nothing is being done about the plight of average Americans, which is why there will ultimately be an outcry from both extremes of the spectrum. And as badly as the nation's prowess has been hijacked, its ability to have its concerns fall on anything but deaf ears is the greater concern. Meanwhile the slight of hand guys on Wall Street don't know enough to come in out of the spiritual rain.
I should issue an apology to the Republicans however. For as disappointed as I am with the lesser evils that are the Democratic forces, this piece intends no foothold for the distorted "talking points" regurgitated by the right-wing faithful. Sorry Andrew Breitbart, there is no video to go along with my writings here. I shouldn't stress however. If there is something here to distort, you'll find it.
But the Democrat/Republican divide has been a red herring for some time now. When money (especially with the Supreme Court's recent unbridling of corporate dollars to campaigns) occupies such a prominent place in the political selection process, those without that commodity suffer. That would be the American people, so look forward to competitions between money and more money in coming elections. Whatever happened to the sentiment that sparked "term limits and campaign finance reform? Oh yes, Beck/Palin/Koch and right-wing unimaginative politics hijacked it. And there has been no opposition from the apparent new "right-wing" of the liberal party called Democrats-- the Obama Administration.
So the only real task conservative Republicans have, is too keep the pretension going that there is real opposition to their policies and lack of thought. There can be no fight if there is no opponent. I wonder if Barry Obama and his parents would actually approve of the Obama Administration's behavior to date. I doubt it because if so, then "Barry" would be unemployed with every incentive to do drugs, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes and lament the fact that he had no hope for the future. He wouldn't even be able to pay back any student loans.
Nader and Paul got jacked! Reverend Wright was sacrificed along with the sensibilities of African-Americans and caring human beings everywhere. And the alter egos that stabilize America's penchant for self-adulation can continue deluding themselves that they possess any positive social purpose. We can all collectively look towards the sunset however to see that the change we could believe in has thus far been all hat, no cattle.