Messiahs don’t get grace periods

Published February 17th, 2009

At least, not when the messiah is named President Barack Obama. Repeatedly I have posted here that Obama is not the liberal political messiah, he is simply another politician. The “devoted” leftists might label me a hater, but that is not the case - I voted for Obama in the primaries, I voted for Obama in the general, I believe he was an excellent choice for the position and I am glad and proud he is President. I think 2000 McCain would have been an acceptable president, but 2008 McCain would not have been - especially following in the footsteps of GW Bush. But I also do not harbor false expectations of the man that is Barack Obama. He is a politician. I believe he will be a good president and has the chance to be a great one - but I don’t believe that to be a slam dunk. I have said this. Of course, my readership is somewhere south of 4 people, so it’s not like I have that much influence.

But it seems that, barely a month into the Presidency of Barack Obama, some of the starry-eyed left is finally figuring out what I’ve been saying all along - Obama is a politician, a man among us and not a man above it all. It’s been a month and he hasn’t turned the world around and revolutionized America! Panic and fear, Phobos and Deimos my friends! He’s a fraud! We’ve been hoodwinked and hornswaggled!

Hyperbole, all of it. It simply comes from unrealistic expectations. Thirty days is not enough time to make good on all campaign promises (were they really promises?). Thirty days is not enough time to ram an agenda through all of government. Thirty days is barely enough time to remember the names of the White House staff.

So the title of the article is “Liberals not pleased with go-slow approach by Obama” - well that’s because it’s simply a measured approach and too many expected too much too fast. That’s it. They are not focusing on what Obama has already accomplished. Let’s start with something that I personally feel strongly about:

“Advocates for stem cell research thought Obama would quickly sign an order to reverse former President Bush’s restrictions on the science. Now they are fretting over Obama’s statement that he wants to act in tandem with Congress, possibly causing a delay.”

President Bush exec-ordered stem cell research to stop. President Bush unilaterally decided the direction of governmental scientific research. I think that is wrong. No one man should have that power. Scientific research should not be subject to the whims of the President. There will be another Republican President someday - maybe as soon as 4 years from now - and he (or she) could simply re-reverse the decision. That is too chaotic for research that has great potential but will also take a long time to fully explore and perfect. No, while I want the stem-cell research ban lifted ASAP, I also want it done right - and Obama is doing it right. By working in tandem with Congress, he solidifies and strengthens the decision - so that it cannot be overturned again on the whim of one person. He’s doing the right thing. Too many liberals think that the Democrat majority will last forever. Guess what - it will not.

How about another issue close to me:

“Critics of Bush’s faith-based initiative thought Obama had promised to end religious discrimination among social service groups taking federal money.

But Obama, in announcing his own faith-based program this month, said only that the discrimination issue might be reviewed.”

Look, if we don’t want religious discrimination by our leaders, we need to STOP MAKING RELIGION AN ISSUE. Stop pressing candidates for their religion and their views on it. Stop making hay over what religion they are (or aren’t). Stop. Just stop. By forcing the issue to the forefront, that has made it so that a leader must profess his religion AND act upon that when in power. So, Obama has professed his religion (and been unfairly forced to prove it over and over) and is now still acting to prove to people that he is a friend of the religious. And that means faith-based programs (which I am very skeptical of, personally). He will review the discrimination issue - great! - but that doesn’t mean he’s going to stop it. Anyone who thought he would while being forced to profess his faith over and over was deluding themselves.

Some further discussion:

“The anxiety is also being felt in the labor movement, one of Obama’s most important support bases. Some union officials and their allies are frustrated that at a crucial point in negotiations over his massive stimulus package, Obama seemed to call for limits on “Buy American” provisions in the bill aimed at making sure stimulus money would be spent on U.S.-made materials. “

If the labor groups thought Obama would blindly do whatever they said, they were fools. They missed one of the lynchpins of Obama’s campaign - one that I believe in strongly:

“Obama has long said his administration will be driven by competence, not political ideology.”

This is a huge promise that I am glad to see Obama working on. Look, I’ve said before that the Buy American rules are feel-good but ultimately hurt the economy. Badly. And now is no time for that. This is not a Dem-Rep issue. It is not ideology. It is the prevailing view of nearly every economist - protectionism is bad, bad, BAD. Look up the lesson of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and learn. This was a Republican supported bill that Democrat FDR opposed during his campaign. Economists all over opposed it. And guess who was right? The opposers. It was a disastrous decision.

The article continues to detail hedging on campaign promises. Did anyone really expect Obama to be perfect on that? What politician ever has been? And that’s the problem - too many believed that Obama wasn’t a politician, but a messiah, above the fray. He’s not. It is my hope that he will eventually fulfill promises to the best of his ability - but I never expected them all to unconditionally happen in 30 days. That is insanity.

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