“Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass.” – Matthew 21:5
The unimaginable seems to be happening in America – Obama is losing popularity. The mood of hope and optimism that surrounded the Messiah when he rode into Washington is losing momentum. After being in office close to 200 days, the American people are feeling a sense of buyer’s remorse from electing Mr. Obama.
Last February, President Obama misled the American people when he instructed House and Senate Democrats to exploit the financial crisis and ram through a $787 Billion fiscal stimulus bill that has only stimulated more government paperwork and failed to create or save any jobs. Obama could have achieved a better outcome through a payroll tax holiday for all workers that would have provided an immediate impact to the economy with less cost. Meanwhile, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is expensive and tragically a wasted opportunity to provide tax relief to the American people and business community. The bill should be repealed.
President Obama is now pointing his finger at a new culprit for the economic crisis – healthcare. Obama held a press conference this past Wednesday to sell America on the idea that the rising costs of healthcare are responsible for the growing budget deficits. Obama proposes that we should control healthcare spending by spending $1 Trillion on healthcare. I am still scratching my head on that concept. How do you reduce spending while increasing spending?
Obama attempted to make the healthcare issue political at his press conference by accusing the GOP of trying to block “quality and affordable healthcare for all Americans.” The accusation is weak when you consider the Democrats have a filibuster-proof Senate and a 70-seat majority in the House. If the “left” could agree on something, then there is no reason that it could not pass. The stalled healthcare reform bill publicly amplifies the loss of Obama’s popularity and credibility amongst Congressional members after they passed a misguided stimulus plan. He should remember the Clinton presidency was saved from itself when HillaryCare was defeated along with its copious spending agenda.
This past week, Obama might have failed to sell Americans on his plan to reform healthcare, but his closing comments set off a firestorm of criticism after he declared that Cambridge Police “acted stupidly” when they arrested his personal friend and African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
After returning home from a trip and learning that he locked himself out of his house, Gates and his driver proceeded to break into the house. His neighbor noticed the two men outside of the home and called the police. According to the police report, Mr. Gates became belligerent when the officers arrived and was arrested for disorderly conduct.
Obama’s comments were odd coming from a man that made great strides at bridging the country’s racial divide to capture the White House. When speaking to the NAACP a week ago, Obama stated, “I believe there is less racial discrimination in America today than ever in our history.” Therefore it was strange when Obama implied racial bias may have been a factor when Gates was arrested. Even more strange when you consider that he rightfully admitted before responding that “he did not have all the facts”.
One of those facts was that police said it looked like someone tried to break into Gates’ home while he was away. Another was that the arresting officer taught a racial-profiling class at a police academy for the past five years. Unquestionably, the controversy hurts the President’s efforts to gain support for his plan to overhaul the healthcare system.
Growing up as an African-American in East Winston-Salem, I can attest to Obama’s point when he declared “interactions between police officers and the African-American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding.” However, the episode that occurred with Gates in his upscale neighborhood outside of Harvard Square is questionable on whether or not it was a “misunderstanding” as much as it was about elitism. Obama’s racially-based response without first investigating the facts will cost him support amongst independents – the group that gave him the ’08 election.
The moods of the people are fickle and Team Obama underestimated the speed at which the ground can move underneath your feet in American politics. For the first time, the American people are not buying Obama’s “leftist” rhetoric, and their dissatisfaction is evidenced in the polls that are revealing Obama’s job approval ratings and popularity is dwindling. The American people realize that having a healthcare system that is ran by the same people that created the Department of Motor Vehicles is not the “change” they expected. This is a historic moment for a historic President that has yet to suffer a public defeat. When Obama does get back on his “ass”, I hope that he learns how to ride down the “center” of the road.
