It amounts to governance by fiat.
Here are just a few examples. When the entire global warming theory fell into disrepute, it became clear that the cap-and-trade bill could not quickly pass Congress, even with large majorities in the House and Senate. So the administration neatly performed an end run around the Congress. The ERA (Environmental Protection Agency) issued an order declaring carbon dioxide emissions a toxic substance. Texas is suing because the parameters of the edict contradict the state's own Clean Air Act.
Another example: In the wake of the gulf oil spill, Secretary Salazar quickly issued a moratorium on drilling, at the behest of the president. The big oil rigs cannot sit idle. Many are being moved to other parts of the world. Estimates are that at least 23,000 well paying jobs are leaving the Gulf. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal puts that number far higher due to the accompanying loss of many ancillary jobs. Unless they buy votes, I can't see that Democrat candidates have much chance in the November elections in the Gulf Region.
There is talk now that a lame duck Congress will ram through the cap-and-tax bill and card check, which will remove the private ballot right from union members. We'll see.
This presidency itself seems rather implausible. You need not believe the president is a socialist but it seems clear that his policies, especially the economic policy, is socialist, He is on the record stating that the redistribution of wealth is a central tenet of his belief system.
I think that his plummeting job approval rating is largely due to his above-mentioned policies and the staggering unemployment rate. But something else lurks below the surface. Many Americans wonder who and what he really is. During the 2008 campaign, he was elevated to the Divine by an adoring mainstream press. This alone should have been a warning sign. But the Obama campaign realized they could mesmerize many voters. They capitalized on this with the media's help while the McCain campaign was utterly mismanaged.
The Ground Zero mosque controversy, which the president needlessly stepped into, has drawn sharper focus on the lurking doubts. One need not believe his is a Muslim, to realize that he has great empathy for Islamic culture. That would be expected given his parentage, childhood and background. However, at the same time, people are suspecting that he has a certain disdain for the Judeo-Christian tradition which lies at the root of the founding of America.
I don't think that the president is incompetent in terms of getting his agenda through. He's done fairly well at that, although the consequences may be great for his party. But it is clear he is not the wonder worker who was advertised, not a visionary on foreign policy, clearly not a bipartisan healer and most definitely not a strong chief executive.
In this administration, style totally trumps substance.
I wonder if, eventually, the historians will describe this administration as David Solway did recently in "Front Page Magazine." He wrote, "The long and the short of it is that Obama's tenure... will be remembered as a national aberration, a piece of avant-garde theatre and a surreal installment in the far more serious drama of unforgiving realpolitik."
Right from the middle of the 2008 campaign, every time I watched Obama perform, I was reminded of the Beckett drama, "Waiting for Godot." Apparently, Mr. Solway has had the same recurring thought. He says, "There is a sense in which Obama resembles Beckett's elusive Godot who is eagerly awaited but never actually arrives."
I college, I studied American authors, largely Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner. Later, I felt I should also have encountered some of the modern French and European authors. When I lived in New York, a colleague gave me some matinee orchestra seats for a Broadway performance of "Waiting for Godot." A cousin from England was visiting at the time. She was rather snooty about America and I suppose I wanted to show her that we indeed, had "culture." But I should have read the reviews.
When we came out of the theatre, she said, "Why did we put ourselves through this?"
Amen.
Copyright©2010SheilahPepper
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