Legal Commentary

Who's To Blame For The "Business As Usual" Disappointment ?

By Big Tent Democrat

From the NYTimes:

Mr. Obama on his first day in office imposed perhaps the toughest ethics rules of any president in modern times, and since then he and his advisers have been trying to explain why they do not cover this case or that case. “This is a big problem for Obama, especially because it was such a major, major promise,” said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “He harped on it, time after time, and he created a sense of expectation around the country. This is exactly why people are skeptical of politicians, because change we can believe in is not the same thing as business as usual.”

(Emphasis supplied.) The Times story continues:

. . . [S]o in these opening days of the administration, the Obama team finds itself being criticized by bloggers on the left and the right, mocked by television comics and questioned by reporters about whether Mr. Obama is really changing the way Washington works or just changing which political party works it.

I personally do not blame Obama. I blame those who allowed the slogan "change we can believe in" to become a substitute for explaining substantive policy and REAL change from the disastrous Bush years.

I never cared about phony lobbyist bans, and phony promises to "change Washington." I wanted to know about changes in POLICY. On the economy, foreign policy, civil liberties, income inequality and torture.

Too many people, especially during the Democratic primaries, became so blinded by the phony rhetoric that they forgot to ask about and cover the actually important questions on policy.

So when "change we can believe in" became signified by silly rules about lobbyists and changing the "culture of Washington," the important REAL SUBSTANTIVE changes necessary became a sidebar.

It so happens that these failings were mooted by the financial crisis. President Obama has a mandate now on everything. The mandate is to fix it. For some reason, perhaps involving 11 dimensional chess, he has been as focused on the post partisan unity schtick as he has been in finding solutions to the severe problems we face.

And yet, President Obama gained another reprieve - the House GOP opposed his plan unanimously. President Obama is now freed from worrying about post partisan unity. He tried after all.

It is high time, beyond time, for President Obama to focus like a laser on the solutions we need to solve the problems we face. Enough of the phony "change," time for the real thing. The stuff that can solve our problems. Time to be like FDR President Obama.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 03, 2009 (boomark / email).