As I was leaving the UIC Pavilion in Chicago where I went to hear Obama announce his candidacy in 2007, a woman said to me "He says all the right thins, but what has he done?". After 3 years of the Obama presidency these words ring truer than ever.
Obama is in serious trouble of losing his base of progressive supporters. Among the progressive failures of Obama administration are the following: The escalation of the Afghanistan war which no one can prove is making us any safer. The failure to address the massive bloat of the defense budget. The endorsement of continuing the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. The failure to hold Wall Street accountable for the fraud that led to an economic depression and keeping the same Wall Street foxes in charge of the economic hen house. The failure to hold those accountable for illegal wiretapping. The failure to demand a single-payer option for healthcare as we are the only industrialized country that continues to watch the poor sicken and die without adequate health coverage. The attack on state approved medical marijuana clinics, leaving marijuana sales untaxed and making money for the vicious cartels. The failure to lift the sanctions on Cuba - after all, our number one trading partner is a totalitarian communist state. The failure to demand that these so-called fair trade agreements include protections for worker's safety and rights. The failure to prosecute those in the Bush administration who ADMITTED PUBLICLY that they committed torture, kidnapping, and war crimes. The failure to close Guantanamo. The refusal to join the International Criminal Court. And the list goes on.
Do I think Romney would be a better president? Absolutely not. The tired, old Republican talking points of less taxes for the rich and less government regulation is what got us into this mess. We have seen that when Wall Street is unregulated, they will commit fraud in their greed and the rest of us end up paying for it. Trickle down economics? For the last 30 years the rich have gotten richer while the rest of us have gotten poorer. Like the joke goes, the problem is that it is only a trickle. The solution to our economic problems are much different than these failed talking points. When 50,000 factories leave your country for places like Bangladesh where workers make 21 cents an hour, less taxes and government regulation won't bring those jobs back.
In a lot of ways, Obama was more disappointing than Bush. We knew what we were going to get when the son of a Texas billionaire took office. But, we had so much hope for the rhetoric of Barack Obama and it feels like we were lied to.
Our broken political system that is controlled by money and back room deals leaves us again with the choice of wanting neither of the candidates. Do I decide that I have to walk the 1/2 block to the polling place to keep Mitt Romney from being the president of the rich, for the rich, and by the rich?
Unfortunately, the Obama presidency has been so disappointing that I don't think it is worth the trouble.
