At this point, there are probably a few things we can all agree upon, when it comes to our current President:
1. He inherited quite a mess from the last occupant of the White House.
2. The general thrust of Obama's policies, as of now, are similar to the last administration. Here are some examples:
a. Big contracts are still going to favored government firms, whether it be for outsourcing military operations or for swine flu vaccines.
b. A major bill in Congress that would have audited the Federal Reserve's international currency transfers has been effectively gutted by the Democratic majority.
c. Credit card rates well over 50% still get mailed out to customers, despite Obama's major push for reform here.
d. The Federal Government's power continues to multiply as it continues to use the power of the Executive branch to implement policy over Congress. This after Obama criticized Bush and Cheney for advocating the theory of a "unified Executive Branch".
e. Bailouts are still going to the major banks at a high clip. Just the other day, the Treasury, in conjunction with the Fed, issues another multi-billion dollar low interest loan to Goldman Sachs.
f. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are continuing unabated.
g. Despite promises to repeal the excessive Patriot Act, Obama supports its reauthorization.
And we can go on and on.
At this point, Obama is in crisis management mode. Their thinking is that we can beat the economic crisis through an alphabet soup of tax incentives and government programs. It didn't work as well as the history books record during the Great Depression, and it isn't working today.
The net result of this is that Obama's poll numbers are in significant decline. Most polls now have him at around or below 50%, this from a high of about 75% after the inauguration. That's what happens when you overpromise and fail to deliver. If I were a part of Obama's political team, I'd be worried. Support from independents in particular is waning, and that will impact Obama's ability to get his program through Congress.
