Gutless Wonder

I am beginning to wonder whether our President is a gutless wonder.

He was swept into office two years ago with large majorities
in both houses of congress.  Even though he did manage
to accomplish some major legislation--minor health care reform,
for instance:  it is minor because neither he nor members of
Congress could bring themselves to press for a single-payer system--
now he is tip-toeing around almost apologetically for what he did.

It appears the banks and financial institutions are wheedling
and maneuvering themselves right back into the business
of screwing small investors with phantom financial "instruments",
endless fees, and rewarding themselves with huge bonuses.

Obama said, plainly and unambiguously, that he wanted to end
"Don't Ask & Don't Tell" for people in military service,
and he acts as if there really is nothing he can do about it.
Even when his own military leaders say it should be ended,
Obama mumbles something about it being the responsibility
of Congress.  Well, even if it is, legally, the responsibility of
Congress, he ought to speak plainly, test the limits of the power
of his office, and push the whole process to passage.

Everybody with an ounce of economic sense knows that
the enormous concentration of wealth and income at the top
is unsustainable, and incompatible with a healthy economy.
Obama says he wants to preserve the tax cuts for almost
everybody but for the small fraction of people with a huge
portion of the income at the very top.  But he is a good guy,
willing to compromise, so he offers to compromise before
he has even proposed to tax the people who can afford
to pay more, and who ought to pay more.  He lies down
on his back and asks that someone scratch his belly.
He negotiates with himself, and gives in.

People don't want confrontation, he says.  He says
they want compromise, reasonable progress, cooperation.
He has spent the last two years pleading with Olympia Snowe
and a couple of other Republicans to join him to pass legislation.
He abandoned his own best ideas, and adopted Republican
proposals even before they were made, to find a middle ground,
over there on their side.  Then they backed out.

He should have said, "This is what I ran on.  This is what
people voted for.  This is what I am proposing.  Do something
about it!  If you hate government health care, try to get rid of
Medicare, and see what the voters will do!  I will fight
fiercely for what the people voted for, and that isn't it!"

Maybe he has a grand, terribly sophisticated, very delicate
scheme to do what he was elected to do, but it isn't evident.
What is evident is that the Republicans have made him look
like a gutless wonder.  And now, with a majority in the House,
and a minority in the Senate, the Republicans are preparing
to do exactly what they have done for the last two years:
oppose everything he wants, and watch him slink over
to their side of the aisle, agreeing to leave his own ideas behind.

I have spent the last two years astounded at how angry
the Tea Party is, astounded at Republicans just saying no.
And now, I am astounded at how angry I am getting
at the President and the Party I supported, and voted for.
We stood in long lines, just to have a chance to say
we saw Barack Obama, and cheered for him, and voted for him.

Maybe he just isn't tough enough.
Communication cannot be the problem:
he is a magnificently eloquent man.

We are running out of time.  He is running out of time, too.