State of the Union
A few days past the event, but did anyone watch it? I did of course, being a past junkie for such kinds of information, having only really trailed off during the last bit of the Bush (W) part of their deliveries. I found it interesting but came away with a general sense of dismay. As all are away I did not support Obama during his campaign, but once the American people had their say I started to buy into the idea of a dramatic change. A year into things and I see very much the status quo in Washington and to sum up in a few words, a president who now realizes dramatic change was to hard and to settle for subtle changes will be acceptable instead.
That is really the feeling I came away with in the State of the Union address. Think back to the numerous and vast platforms and promises that Obama ran and then think of the ones that have been fulfilled or accomplished at this point? Guantanamo, ongoing war on two fronts, healthcare, job creation, the economy, the list could continue, but aside from minor steps forward, really nothing has been accomplished on any of these. Well, okay, I will give you the one that I am not supporting, healthcare, has moved forward a good deal – but will it succeed?
And this was a year largely with both houses having a clear ans substantial majority with party alignment the same as Obama. With the recent election in the senate it is going to be harder to proceed on anything without additional compromise going forward. And while Obama ran on a notion of leaving partisan politics behind, the drastic change part is not going to happen so long as there is any way of the republicans opposing such. Double edged sword for Obama though – as he moves more toward moderation and compromise, is dramatic changes become little more than subtle differences from the current status quo.
Drastic change would maybe be a good thing for the country. After all, that is something a number of our founding fathers were very much in favor of occurring on occasion. Clearly, if they were not willing to risk much, we would still be likely be a British Colony of some sort or another. Thinking about it though, I think our system has put worked itself into a protectionist corner at this point. It gives lip service to change and being of, by, and for the people. Reality it is change, at least not dramatic change, is rarely if ever going to occur and any person and groups of people who really strive for change are doomed for failure at best and much more likely to be landed in jail for terrorist activities – even if the actions were nothing more than Henry and Jefferson would have been involved in at Raleigh Tavern some two hundred plus years ago.
Side note: WOW – Just realized we are a mere six years away from two hundred fifty years of big events in our history – anyone seen anything about plans on immense scale like back in 1976?
Back to Obama. Clearly most of what he is struggling with now is the Bush legacy. Like it or not, pretty much everything outside of possibly the health care initiative was a situation that was out of control or rapidly spinning that way during the last years of the Bush administration. Unfortunately, Obama has not, at least so far, come up with any major solutions to the issues at hand. And his current seeming turn toward subtle change instead of the drastic change on which his ground swell of support seemed to be based indicates to me he will likely be a one term president. His fault? I can not really say that. But my prediction anyway unless he makes a drastic change.
