No one should be surprised by these predictions. It’s the way of it during tough times, and these are some of the toughest since the late seventies and early eighties.
Republicans Are Poised for Gains in Key Elections .
[Excerpt]
WASHINGTON — Republicans appear positioned for strong results in three hard-fought elections Tuesday. But isolated, off-year contests aren’t always reliable indicators of what will happen in the wider federal and state races held in even-numbered years.
Then there’s this from the New York Times:
In Iowa, Second Thoughts on Obama
[excerpt]
WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa — Pauline McAreavy voted for President Obama. From the moment she first saw him two years ago, she was smitten by his speeches and sold on his promise of change. She switched parties to support him in the Iowa caucuses, donated money and opened her home to a pair of young campaign workers.
But by the time she received a fund-raising letter last month from the Democratic National Committee, a sense of disappointment had set in. She returned the solicitation with a handwritten note, saying, “Until I see some progress and he lives up to his promises in Iowa, we will not give one penny.”
“I’m afraid I wasn’t realistic,” Ms. McAreavy, 76, a retired school nurse, said on a recent morning on the deck of her home here in east-central Iowa.
“I really thought there would be immediate change,” she said. “Sometimes the Republicans are just as bad as Democrats. But it’s politics as usual, and that’s what I voted against.”
Promise the world and people expect actual results. Not fudged results. Not a lack of results. Not backsliding. Real actions that produce real results.
However, just because there were people who thought that by electing Mr. Obama to the office of President of the United States would cure all the world’s evils and make their personal troubles and struggles magically vanish into thin air, doesn’t mean that we should be unduly harsh of President Obama’s failure to produce on those unrealistic expectations. One man, not even the President of the United States can do everything that needs to be done. It takes everyone else to effect change.
We can draw our inspiration and leadership from the President, but the President is extremely limited in what he can do personally. Said another way: He can’t be the only one rowing in the boat that is the United States.
I have disagreed with most of President Obama’s initiatives and agenda, some of them “energetically”. But, I disagreed with a lot of the initiatives and agendas of every previous President as well. It’s not a “party thing”. And just as I’ve said previously elsewhere on the internet, our President may be “the most powerful man on earth”, but he is only one man and cannot do everything alone. He [or that future "she"] is not Constitutionally vested with the authority to do everything.
“The most powerful man on earth” has very little sole authority or power to change things on his [or her] own. It takes a lot of people rowing the boat to get where the majority want it to go. And who can argue that we find ourselves in very turbulent waters?
President Obama could do more in the way of leadership — and could do less golfing while he’s at it.
Snip from Boston Herald‘s Obama Watch
The presidency is a tough job, what with two wars, a health-care crisis, a swine flu pandemic, and a recession. What better way to work out the stress of being president than with a littlegolf ? Well, the Big O set a dubious mark last week when he passed Dubya on the links. According to CBS’s Mark Knoller, the unofficial chronicler of all things Obama, the president has played 24 rounds ofgolf – it took vacation-happy George W. Bush 2 years and 9 months to reach 24 rounds.
It’s a shame really, you would think that the person who chose to run the office of President of the United States would have realized that being a leader, what the President is supposed to be, takes actual leadership. He may need others to row the boat, but he is supposed to be the Captain standing in bow giving direction — and let’s not forget that all important inspiration to keep us rowing.
Remember to cast your vote today if there is an election in your voting district. Our vote is our “voice” and election day is the day we get to use it most effectively. Unless, that is, you happen to be a celebrity or large financial donor.
