Access To Democracy

     A glimmer of hope…but perhaps Obama and his advisers are finally starting to get it.  Not talking tough enough, mind you, but realizing that the people who pushed him over the top — yes, he won — based their support on his stands, his words and the party platform, and nothing less.

     Plus the realization that the Republican party, and the Conservatives will do anything negative and nothing positive in order to make him fail.  As the scandals roll out, one after another, and the criminal conduct of the Bush administration, whether it is lying us into war and responsibility for the death of tens of thousands, whether it is the perfidious conduct in Iraq by Blackwater and its minions, the Halliburton thievery, the constant lying to the people, the ramping up of fear, the latest admissions of Tom Ridge about raising the “terror level” right before the election only for political reasons, the scandal of the Federal Attorney firings, the loss of memory of every member of the Administration in the investigations, the blatant hiring of incompetents in jobs which required intellect and experience, the criminal neglect which became the Katrina fiasco, the Valarie Plame debacle, the fact that Cheney and Rove are still not behind bars, nor is George W. in a home for the mentally impaired, and on and on — ad nauseum — none of which gets even a whimper of condemnation from the right wing, should leave no doubt to Obama that his success will be measured by living up to what he stood for and hopefully still stands for,  and that success will have to fashioned by the President himself.  Bi-partisanship is non-existent.

     It’s just seven months since Barack Obama stepped into the mess that the Bush Administration left behind, so let’s review just a little of what he has accomplished in so short a period of time — perhaps taking on too much too fast.  We were on the verge of a financial collapse and national recession, reeling from the trillion plus dollars that the Iraq War cost (a war we were lied into, I repeat), with rising unemployment, foreclosures, home sales lagging, industry gasping its last breaths, etc.  Of course, not one of the naysayers of today said a word or raised a finger to object as the nation spiraled toward international oblivion.

     In seven months, Obama fashioned TARP, which, despite its shortcomings, stabilized the financial markets even though the rush to do so came at a price which exemplified the expression “haste makes waste.”  The right wing of course, was critical (except for saving the big corporations upon whom they feed), even in the face of the fact that their support of trashing regulations were the main factor that corporate and financial greed ran rampant and unchecked.

     The stimulus package — opposed by the Republicans and Conservatives, and today the market marches forward as it approaches 9500 (the Dow), far above its downward spiral.

     Cash for Clunkers — again, uniform right-wing opposition and condemnation, although the program was instantly successful, exceeded all hope, helping the auto industry, dealers, suppliers, creating jobs, reopening closed automobile production, etc.

   Home sales move upward for the first time in several years, the job market is starting to stablize (helped by extending jobless benefits which the right wing, consistent if not humanitarian opposed).  In other words, Obama inherited an abysmal mess and has been leading us out of the wilderness — in seven months and without a shred of assistance from the Republicans and their retinue.

     We are getting out of Iraq, as he promised, (and I wish I could say the same of Afghanistan) and on schedule, and most importantly, Obama’s meetings with world leaders have begun to restore the prestige and credibility which this nation had lost in  eight downward spiraling Bush years.  All in seven months.

    Which leaves us with, among other problems, health care (the subject of other articles, past and to come) and the realization that Republicans have no plan, have no thoughts other than to throw roadblocks into whatever Obama and the Democrats (and Independents) come up with.  It will be a go-it-alone process, and once that realization sinks into, the march forward begins.

   In seven months — incredible.