By: John Vaughn
President Barack Obama is no George Washington. He’s no FDR. “Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.” He is assuredly no second coming of Abraham Lincoln, despite what his campaign staffers may have wanted you to believe during his inauguration. Since doomsday terms such as “shutdown” and “fiscal cliff” have found their way back onto the screens on major news networks, Obama has had a major opportunity to alter how American history will perceive his administration.
As the clock struck midnight on Sept. 30, the most recent government shutdown began. Within the next minute, Obama released a video explaining what the shutdown means for military personnel and other federal employees, while assigning blame to both Congress and the Republicans. The video only exacerbated the situation.
In the weeks since, we saw Barack Obama, the senator from Illinois. Where George W. Bush refused to negotiate with terrorists, Obama has refused to negotiate with congressional Republicans if the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) continued to be defunded. Perhaps this was a justifiable leadership move – Obama had the leverage with both the Democratic majority in the Senate and his veto – except most of this communication came from press secretary Jay Carney, who seemed to know as much about a resolution to the current Congressional gridlock situation as the security guards wanding Capitol tourists outside.
The shutdown ended with 24 hours left before financial doomsday. A compromise was brokered between Senate Majority and Minority leaders Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) The president’s efforts to lead fell apart, and it was left to wildly unpopular Congressional leaders to save the nation from marching lemming-like over a cliff.
Regardless of one’s view on Obamacare, it’s hard to imagine a less cohesive environment for running our nation than the one he allowed to be created. Granted, the voting population is split and subsequently has created one of the most partisan environments since Civil War times. Regardless, if Obama were the master bipartisan he promised to be then we would have had a resolution or at least been a leader.
Obama was the first to point a finger after the government shutdown. He did it on national television and YouTube, yet cloaked under the disguise of a PSA for our troops in uniform. If Obama were only able to truly emulate FDR in the spirit of his fireside chats, we would have a president. Obama emerged as the top partisan in these debates – clashing with Speaker Boehner and taking the spotlight from the Democratic representatives and senators actually entrusted with the legislative power of our government.
As a result the greatest country in the world was brought to its knees because of divided government and a weak, but extraordinarily partisan, executive. With one speech, one conversation and one demonstration of the initiative and willingness to compromise best shown by Obama’s greatest successors, our president could have ended the disaster. He could have lead Democrats to agree to delay Obamacare. He could have taken his ultimatum off the table. He could have addressed the real problems associated with our national debt and the disastrous bugs of Obamacare. Our government could be open and we could simply debate the merits of Obamacare and allow the institutions to function.
America deserves better. We deserve a functioning government that can pay its bills. Sure, Obama is a Democratic president with a very, very progressive agenda, but as the most visible member of the federal government, Obama had the opportunity to create an honorable compromise. Instead, he let the country go to the brink of default for partisan advantage.
Regardless of agenda and ideology, Obama allowed the longest government shutdown in history and missed a huge opportunity to establish his administration as one of compromise. As a result, Americans will come back to the philosophic middle and approval of both Congress and Obama will plummet in the coming weeks. American morale is decreasing, despite a growing economy and America’s continued prominence in the global realm.
Regardless of party affiliation, pray that our next commander-in-chief displays more leadership and reason for hope than our current one. As it stands, the American government has already spent more money than we could currently take from our people (even if they took every penny counted in our GDP) and we will continue to add mounting bills from a graying and growing population and the implementation of Obamacare.
Perhaps most sadly, Obama is destroying the pervasive image that America is a “shining city on a hill.” He hasn’t provided us with one of Dr. King’s “dreams,” either. He hasn’t really given Americans much of anything to inspire us outside of his campaigns. There’s only his agenda, the souring legacy of the Obama administration, and proof that the one man who once gave us reason to “hope” for a brighter, less congressionally-involved tomorrow (that is: a day where the casual political observer doesn’t fear the possible destruction of our economy because of legislative gridlock) said he’d bring “change” to Washington, D.C. but has only accentuated the problems that consistently plague American politics.
