I couldn't sleep last night. I was tossing and turning with too many unrelated work issues on my mind. I slipped in and out of a restless sleep, and during one of those dreamy interludes, I actually had a dream about meeting Obama. Dreams never make sense, and this one really didn't either. I was in some sort of gaming arcade. Obama was there, and he was playing a video game and we got to talking about the video game. I don't remember what game it was, and it isn't relevant. Most of the discussion was ridiculous and not relevant to anything in the real world, but I do remember him asking me "What do you think I should do?" and I remember replying "You aren't really looking for any advice from me, so don't pretend you are." He replied "No, I guess I'm not." And then I woke up. Stupid dream, but I remember sitting in the dark pondering it and coming to the fundamental obviousness of that fact - Obama really doesn't care what anyone thinks. He isn't doing what he is doing because of any real desire to create a better country. He's doing it for his own selfish purpose. The response to that is that every politician does the same thing, and I agree with it. They do. But I began to think about what I was thinking and feeling when I voted for him in 2008 (something I have repeatedly admitted on this very forum). I did not like Bush. I didn't hate him, but I thought he was a bumbling fool who had no real concept on how to make the country better - but he wasn't doing anything to make it worse, either. I especially hated his bond with Wall Street and placing Ben Bernanke into the Fed. I believe he clearly panicked when the crash in October 2008 came, and began relying on the very same vipers that caused the problem (Bernanke, Paulson, etc) to provide him advice on how to get out of it. Knowing that he was on his way out, he did whatever they said and crossed his fingers. In the process, a lot of free market principles were thrown out of the window, and the public - main street if you will - was outraged. I was too. Then came Obama. I started listening to his speeches about Change, and how irresponsible spending had to be stopped. Bailouts were the problem. Wall Street was the problem. He said all the right things that I was looking to hear, and the alternative to him was McCain. McCain was hopelessly inept (still is) and had no real solutions. He talked around issues. In debates, he never looked Obama in the eyes, just kept talking about him while the guy was standing next to him. Obama would always directly confront him. "Now John, you know that's not true" and look right at him. McCain, for all his war hero status, was a coward on stage. This is just my opinion - you may disagree. I had no historical context on Obama. I simply took him at face value. I also thought it would speak volumes for the nature of this country to finally elect an African-American as a President. I found myself clinging to the idea of finally breaking through stereo types, hoping for once in a long time that corruption and greed that had begun to pollute the lives of the rest of us (it had always been in Washington, but was seeping now to affect everyone else) would be put into check, challenged. A people's President. Fitting that it would be the first black man to be elected - from a race that was once horribly enslaved to the highest office in the land. The scourge of our ancestors could finally begin to be wiped away - for real. That is why I voted for Obama. I look back with semi-sweet feelings of sympathy for myself, clinging to that feeling of nostalgia, when I longed for that change I pressed the button for. Now I am thoroughly embarrassed at what I did. I realize that I was completely bamboozled. I was sold snake oil. I was at a particularly vulnerable time in my life when I saw my newborn child and wanted a better world. I bought into the lies and the deceit. I signed up to be a part of the change Obama was telling us was right around the corner. If only we put him in charge. Obama could have done it, should he chose to do so. He had the power of the mob. He could have taken all that momentum and equity and chased out all the career politicians. He could have dug out all the corruption and set fire to everything that lobbyists have spent so much money building the last few decades. He could have put us on a path of wholesome economic growth - telling us that yes, we were in for some dark years but the other side of the tunnel held a light that we would reach. We just had to stay the course. He could have been remembered as the man who guided our country back to it's core principles - and what made it great in the first place - success built on sweat and hard work. The kind my grandfather used to talk about before he died last year. Instead, it will now be a long, long time before another African-American is ever elected. No matter how good that person is, people will always, wrongfully, think of Obama. Obama, himself, will go into the history book as an absolute disaster (I am 100% confident of this). All the things he was going to change, he just piled on and made worse. Wall Street quickly bought him, and he put Bernanke back in place. Replaced Paulson with Timmy and Summers. Signed Dodd-Frank after watching it become completely overrun with lobbyists who twisted it how they wanted. Corruption blossomed under his watch, and he apologized to the wrong people, while alienating traditional friends of the country. Above all, he spent and spent and spent, and when he was done with that, he planned to spend some more. All the while blaming his predecessor for everything that happened negative - instead of owning up like a real man would and saying "Regardless of what was done in the past, the buck stops here, with me. I will assume blame for this, but we will make it right." Even Bush did that, horrible as he was. Now I look at my son, just turned 4 this month, and I feel even worse about where I was back in 2008. I no longer have faith in politics, I just want to be rid of Obama. Though I am a conservative, I am a fiscal conservative. I'm a social liberal/independent. But I will spread my message to everyone that listens in the hope that another 4 years with Obama can be avoided. I know a lot of individuals like myself who feel similar. I don't know why I wrote this post, I just wanted to get it off my chest. I know the resident loons will jump all over it, but that's fine. I don't claim anything in here as fact, just my opinion. Thx
Nice post. And just so you dont forget, remember that Obama has added over 5 trillion to the debt since he became elected. In essence, its no different than when your son was born, he opened a credit card in his name, and put over $16,000 on it that your 4 year old will have to pay back one day.
I don't think it is possible to take the future of my country - the country I leave behind to my boy - too much. I guess that is the difference between you and me.