The Times believes:
- "...that without more spending the economy could remain weak for a very long time."
- "Americans need to know that Mr. Obama, whose coolness can seem like detachment, is engaged."
- "...the contemplative nature that was so appealing in a candidate can seem indecisive in a president."
- "It took too long for Mr. Obama to say that the Coast Guard and not BP was in charge of operations in the gulf and it’s still not clear that is true."
- "He should not have hesitated to suspend the expanded oil drilling program and he should have moved a lot faster to begin political and criminal investigations of the spill."
The editorial concludes:
"He should not have hesitated to suspend the expanded oil drilling program and he should have moved a lot faster to begin political and criminal investigations of the spill."
It's very clear that the Times is not pleased with TeamObama's recent performance. Yet, the actions supported by the Times are not in the best interests of the country because they will not improve the confidence of the people or the economy.
The Times believes that TeamObama can fix what's wrong in the U.S. The reality is that many of these policies, e.g. ObamaCare, excessive deficit spending and unsustainable debt are not supported by the majority of Americans and continue to create an increasing unhealthy dependency on government. Hopefully, the complexion of Congress will change in November's elections.
This scolding by the Times, his stalwart ally, is certainly not something TeamObama wants to hear, but is meant to prod him to shape up. They are obviously worried about both the mid-term and the 2012 elections. Competency matters and after 18 months in office TeamObama and the Democrat Congress come up short of the hype and expectations.
4 comments:
Given the hype and given the problems that Obama found when he moved into the White House (banking crisis, major recession, two wars, health care system disfunction) it's hardly a surprise that this is a tough time to be President. The NY Time suggestions are all good ones and many people disagree on ideological grounds with Obama's policies. But time will tell how effective and competent history judges Obama to be. We gave W 8 years of his disasterous reign and spending spree, isn't it reasonable to give Obama time before being so certain that he is "incompetent" ?
I agree with Germain entirely. Condemning Obama at this stage of his presidency is both facile and unfair. The misery Obama has been handed after 30 years of "business is all" Reagan policies would be a challenge for even the conservative deity Rush Limbaugh.
If TeamObama is succeeding in his Presidency, the evidence should be obvious to Americans. That's not my reading of the mood in the country. Blaming Bush wears thin after nearly 18 months.
Granted, no President can control the economy and deliver 'goodness and light' for all Americans, and TeamObama is getting a bad rap on the BP oil debacle. But they are not delivering on the expectations created in the body politic.
My beef is equally with Congress as well as TeamObama. Spending ourselves into unsustainable debt by both Republicans and Democrats is a failure of leadership.
The country is always split about 50/50 on major political, ideological, social, economic grounds (witness presidential elections that usually are decided by 4 points or less (sometimes way less i.e. Bush/Gore). So your "reading" of the country probably overstates those who loudly decry Obama's policies. My wife, for example, turned to me last night after watching something on the news and simply said, "I love Obama". I think he is thoughtful, deliberate, smart and yes shows leadershio and effectiveness so I would not be so certain about what is obvious to Americans or what the mod of the country is. Time will. Meanwhile Obama has managed to get a health care reform bill through Congress something no other president has been able to do (the process was ugly (nothing new there) and the bill is not perfect but results matter, my belief is that over time the bill will evolve and has a good chance of being "a fucking big deal" as Biden so in artfully put it. Meanwhile, we shall see about the economy - my guess is a slow but solid recovery that takes a long time but does lead to higher employment and lower deficits. Blaming Bush may wear thin but I think Obama has been very restrained in that regard, the people who voice that view are usually people like me - really angry at what he did (mostly the war but also his failure to supervise the banks, insurance companies, and the mortgage and derivatives market, which failure would be more forgivable if it was simply something he missed but it is more than that - his anti regulatory ideology prevented him from realizing what he did not know (always very dangerous). It seems to me that Obama deliberates, asks tough questions and thinks before acting, taking a long view. That is leadership.
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