Politics As Usual

03 Jun, 2010 by Kathleen McKinley

Print this article Font size -16+

Pres. Obama’s liberal vision for our country is something that will never square with conservatives and their beliefs. But beyond political differences, Obama had a chance to change Washington, and the corrupt way things have been done. On the campaign trail Obama promised us over and over that change was coming, and there would be a new more transparent government that respected and involved the citizens. He could have done that without compromising any of his political beliefs. The question is..why didn’t he?

Robert Gibbs has now admitted that they did indeed discuss two USAID posts and a US Trade and Development Agency job with ex-Colorado House Speaker Andrew Romanoff to drop his challenge to Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet. Gibbs said, “Jim Messina called and emailed Romanoff last September to see if he was still interested in a position at USAID, or if, as had been reported, he was running for the US Senate. … Messina wanted to determine if it was possible to avoid a costly battle between two supporters.”

As Politico observes:

Taken together, the Sestak and Romanoff cases suggest a White House team that is one part Dick Daley, one part Barney Fife.

And bungling that fix is at odds with the Obama team’s image–built around the likes of Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod, David Plouffe and Obama himself–as shrewd political operatives who know the game and always win it.

On Obama’s Change.gov website he said that he “will ensure Washington works for the people, not the special interest groups.” Yet one of the first things Obama did was make a deal with big Pharma for the healthcare bill, ignoring the will of the people.

His site also promised, “Obama will work to reform congressional rules to require all legislative sessions, including committee mark-ups and conference committees, to be conducted in public.” We all know how that worked out.

And this: “Obama will not sign any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days.” We all know how that worked out as well. The House passed the Senate Health care bill about 10:30 PM EDT on Sunday evening, March 21st. He signed it the next morning, 36 hours after it passed.

Then there is this little tidbit: “Obama will issue an executive order asking all new hires at the agencies to sign a form affirming that no political appointee offered them the job solely on the basis of political affiliation or contribution.” I guess a political appointee that was offered the job solely on the basis of not running against a favorite son in a Democrat primary doesn’t count?

I guess this is summed up by a fellow Democrat also quoted in the Politico piece:

One senior House Democrat said it is baffling “how one group of people can be so good at campaigning and so bad at politics” – a phrasing nearly identical to that of a second veteran House Democrat who expressed the same sentiment.

I don’t think we ever really know a politician while they are in the campaign mode. They only really tell us who they are when they govern. Unfortunately for us, Pres. Obama is turning about to be nothing like candidate Obama. We didn’t get the change, and we are fast losing the hope.

Let us never be fooled by pretty words ever again.