Reality finally sets in

By Robert Amoroso

If the polls are any indication, it seems that reality is finally setting in for the Obama Administration. Within just two weeks into his administration President Obama’s massive “stimulus package” is loosing steam among the people that truly count…the American tax payer. Support for this massive spending bill currently working its way through congress went from a 45% favorable rating, to an astounding reversal of 37%.

The Rasmussen Report, one of the nations most respected polling organizations, has just released its latest national telephone survey and found 37% favor this massive spending package, while 43% are opposed, and 20% are not sure. In laymen’s terms, the support for this “stimulus package has evaporated among the populace, and within just two short weeks has dropped 37%, from support to opposition.

Obviously, this can’t be good news for President Obama, and to make matters worse his choice of cabinet picks seems to be once again turning into a lapse of judgment, how else can one explain his nominations of Tim Geithner for Treasury secretary and Tom Daschle for Secretary of Health and Human Services, both of whom avoided paying income tax for years to the tune of $34,000 and $128,000 respectively, and only after their names were placed for nomination, did they pay off the tax liability, astoundingly without any penilities…it seems that when it comes to eithcs and misdeeds the more things change the more they stay the same.

Astoundingly there have beeen other Obama nominees that have had to drop out, because of either tax liability issues or ethic volations, obviously President Obama (unlike the millions who voted for him), seems to have trouble in assessing what constatutes “misdeeds”, and it once again highlights his judgement with past associations.

My concern with President Obama has always been his lack of experience and his questionable judgement and within the last two weeks of his presdency, we’ve seen both in action.

There’s no dubt we have serious economic issues that must be addressed, however for a president of the United States to go before the nation and the world, and continually speak in terms of a “catasrophic doom’s day senario” speakes volums on how this president governs and his judgement.

It seems that if President Obama can’t rush through the congress this massive spending bill without a reasonable debate, he’ll simply talk down the economy, irregardless of the further damage it may cause. Preciption and good faith has always been the driving principles in a sound economy, the tactics of “fear” that President Obama is currently engaged in, is both dangerous and reckless, and only damages our economy further and sends a frightful message to our trading partners around the world. 

If anything the news coming out of Washington today, should be a wake-up call not to rush this massive spending bill through without due-dilegence. It seems that in its haste, to prop up those troubled banks and financial instatutions the Treasury Department over paid by almost 80 billion dollars, the purchase of those bad debts. That’s 80-billion dollars of tax payer money wasted, simply because the Bush Administration didn’t take the time to ferret out the actual dollar value of those bad debts.  

And though President Obama still enjoys support among his core and special interest groups, the Rasmussen poll indicates just the opposite. While most American’s (myself included) want President Obama to successed, they want him to govern responsibly, as a centrest and they recognize that this “stimulus package”  before congress is nothing more then a massive spending bill, authored by the liberal wing of  House Democrats and sanctioned by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

We need a legitimate “stimulus package” to jump-start the economy, however this is not the time for social engineering and massive government spending on new programs and entitlements.

The challenge for President Obama as I’ve stated in the past, is to take control of his presidency away from the liberal wing of his party and have the discipline to curb his instinct for big government spending and his grand vision for America, and to simply stay the course, without driving this economy into a depression, as I fear he may.

However, as of this writing, all of that has changed.

I had assumed that this massive 600 page bill before congress would be securitized, debated and discussed in a bipartisan way. After all isn’t that what President Obama promises, a transparent and ethically driven administration?  And though Obama’s voting record in the Senate was clear, I was still hopeful that as president his words would finally transcend to deeds…I was wrong.

The congress has capitulated and has passed a tentative agreement, however, what we’ve seen within the last few days from President Obama is anything but a bipartisan approach, and it seems that he has metamorphosed into a strident partisan politician and fear monger, driven by the belief that winning the election absolves him from reaching out across the aisle. However, with absolute power comes absolute responsibility, and to that end he and he alone, will be held accountable, for its success or failure.