The American economy is in turmoil. The housing market collapsed. Companies small and large are going out of business. The automobile industry is crying for bail outs, banks and investors are broke and we are spending billions of dollars that we don̢۪t have.
At a time of economic crisis, the American people should be able to look to their leader — their president. But, good luck doing that. President Barack Obama is so concerned with making sure everyone knows that his administration “inheritedâ€Â all of its problems from the Bush Administration, he doesn’t have much time be the president of the United States.
Obama started the blame game when he gave his inaugural speech in January and has continued to push this idea, that everything was already bad when he took office, ever since. I am not saying he is wrong; he did inherit these problems. They were set in motion long before he took office.
However, he needs to stop moaning about it and take responsibility for the problems he knew existed when he promised the American people his change. For many Americans, the only change they can see is what̢۪s left of their bank account.
Spending $30 million to save Nancy Pelosi’s salt marsh harvest mouse sounds like earmark spending to me — something Obama assured us would stop when he took office. Obama’s policies of out-of-control spending and taxation of America’s middle class is driving our country further into debt every day and crushing the American dream.
Don’t misunderstand – I want Obama to succeed because I love this country and I want it to thrive. I hope I am wrong about his economic plan. I hope it does bring us out of this recession and restore out country to its former glory that prides itself on capitalism and freedom.
It’s blatantly clear that Obama loves to be in front of the camera, but he needs to be spending his time in the oval office. Abraham Lincoln once said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.â€Â Obama would be wise to take the advice of our previous renowned leader, before it is too late for him and too late for our country.
Constantly putting down our former president to make himself look better is a cowardly way out. Obama claims he wants to move forward. If this is true, he needs to stop looking backward, stop blaming the previous administration, and do so.
FYI • Apr 18, 2009 at 1:21 pm
the middle class does not exist anymore!!!
FYI • Apr 18, 2009 at 8:21 pm
the middle class does not exist anymore!!!
junior • Apr 17, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Suppose I’m poor, but my family is well off. Do I cease to be in the middle class?
junior • Apr 17, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Suppose I’m poor, but my family is well off. Do I cease to be in the middle class?
whatever • Apr 17, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Haha everyone thinks they are MIDDLE CLASS.
whatever • Apr 17, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Haha everyone thinks they are MIDDLE CLASS.
Craig Magie • Apr 17, 2009 at 1:21 pm
I find it interesting that Obama is being criticized for “out-of-control spending” as he tries to bring the country out of a recession, while many of the same people said nothing when the Bush administration spent trillions of dollars in Iraq (and in fact largely supported that war). So it is OK to expand government spending to kill people, but not to try and stimulate the economy in a time of legitimate crisis? Now I do not agree with everything Obama has done, but using the government to inject demand into the economy seems necessary at this time.
A couple of misconceptions in your column: 1) Obama is not increasing taxes on the middle class, but only on the wealthy (who disproportionately benefited from the Bush taxation policies). If anything is “crushing the american dream”, it is the out-of-control greed of corporate America, particularly in the financial sector, that got us into this mess in the first place. 2) Obama does spend more time in front of the camera than Bush did. This is not to avoid work, but to explain what he is doing to the American people, something I would have thought would be viewed as a positive. Obama has been anything but lazy in the first part of his term, indeed some would argue he has tried to do too much. To imply that he is spending too much time blaming Bush and not enough time on the job at hand is disingenuous.
Craig Magie • Apr 17, 2009 at 8:21 pm
I find it interesting that Obama is being criticized for “out-of-control spending” as he tries to bring the country out of a recession, while many of the same people said nothing when the Bush administration spent trillions of dollars in Iraq (and in fact largely supported that war). So it is OK to expand government spending to kill people, but not to try and stimulate the economy in a time of legitimate crisis? Now I do not agree with everything Obama has done, but using the government to inject demand into the economy seems necessary at this time.
A couple of misconceptions in your column: 1) Obama is not increasing taxes on the middle class, but only on the wealthy (who disproportionately benefited from the Bush taxation policies). If anything is “crushing the american dream”, it is the out-of-control greed of corporate America, particularly in the financial sector, that got us into this mess in the first place. 2) Obama does spend more time in front of the camera than Bush did. This is not to avoid work, but to explain what he is doing to the American people, something I would have thought would be viewed as a positive. Obama has been anything but lazy in the first part of his term, indeed some would argue he has tried to do too much. To imply that he is spending too much time blaming Bush and not enough time on the job at hand is disingenuous.