That is life!

Now-a-days, I find myself enjoying reading columns and blogs critical of President Obama. It was not that long ago, I used to get upset if I hear anything critical of Obama. (I am one of the many who cancelled the subsription of the New Yorker magazine in 2008 because of a cover showing candidate Obama and wife Michelle dressed as Muslims!) The words ‘disappointed and angry’ are the words which can describe my feelings about President Obama now. What a disappointment he turned out to be. People had given Obama on a platter everything he asked for in the 2008 elections – the office of the President with Democratic majorities both in the Senate and the House. And look what he has done with it! Right from the beginning he acted like the community organizer he was, trying to come up with compromises. He made a mess out of the healthcare reform which could have been a shoo-in if he did not waste time working out compromises with one or two senators of his own party who were in the pockets of the insurance lobbies. It is obvious that Obama does not know how to exercise his power as the President to get his way. (Imagine President Lyndon Johnson letting a senator from his own party holding off on the Civil Rights Act!) He appears to start every negotiation by giving away a significant chunk of the bargaining chips, like dropping the ‘public option’ in the healthcare reform bill at the beginning itself. He did not have the courage to let the Bush 'tax cuts for the rich' expire when his party still had the majority in the Congress, fearing Republicans who were ready to take over the house. I just cannot understand how he could allow Republicans to make deficit reduction major issue now while the economy stays stagnant with over 14 million people unemployed. How can he not see the Republican trap of preventing any spending to improve the economy making him vulnerable in the 2012 election? I have come to the sad conclusion that President Obama is simply not competent to be the President of United States. Ironically, he may still get reelected next year as the Republican candidates, with exception of Mitt Romney, are a bunch of unelectable nut cases! That is life for us here in USA.