obama as a divisive figure

i voted for obama. when obama came to evansville, before the election, before he had the nomination won, i went to see him. the newspapers had already declared the race over. hillary was too far behind, there werent enough votes left. she would have to win almost all the remaining races. she almost did too. the right wing radio commentators were hammering obama every day. they had audio of his pastor screaming god damn america. obama was dying in the heartland. hillary was starting to win every race, about 10 in a row. this day she won in pennsylvania. the speech in evansville was going to be the concession speech for obama. obama had given a single speech on race. i had expected a rock concert. i had expected to be swept away with the crowd, the speech. i wasnt. he did not incorporate any of the race speech into his campaign speech.

obama had a stage, the media had a larger stage. the seats behind obama were empty, then a diverse group was led out from the tunnel and seated directly behind him, where the tv cameras would see them. then they were handed signs. the campaign video started. all the faces were black. the only white faces were young people in their 20's. nobody who could be described as a business man, as a laborer, not even a white working union man. obama gave what seemed like a lackluster speech, not addressing, not touching the entire race issue, which i had come to hear, and what was i felt like had completely changed the dynamic of the race. he did not acknowledge the problem, that if the primary season were another couple weeks, another couple races, he would have lost. i left feeling like he had no political instincts and he had no chance in the fall.

then mccain picks the unknown, the untruthful, the inexperienced, the disingenuous, the good speech reader, sarah palin, who cannot give an interview and is not allowed to by the boys in the campaign. then the economy appears to die before our eyes in one day or one week, and obama, still championed mightily by the media, is led to the inauguration. we voted against the previous president as much as we voted for the next one.

less than one year into his presidency, he appears to have 5 issues. i think he has the wrong position on every one of them.

the war - the U.S. cannot solve the world's problems. Afghanistan has not had a central government in 40 years, since the last king left, or so i am told. Except for the nuclear weapons next door, there is not a single reason America has to be interested in Afghanistan.

the financial system - Obama has caved to the bankers. this government is bought and sold and Obama must look the other way.

the medical reform - of course its a train wreck coming if nothing is done. the only new buildings in town are medical buildings. soon the medical industry will be the largest industry in america. employers and employees can neither afford what is coming. any medical bill which comes out of congress seems guaranteed to increase payments to the medical industry and accelerate the eventual bankruptcy of everybody else.

global warming - the average citizen does not want to put a dime into this. the global warming scientists have zero track record predicting the future. they cannot predict the weather in a month, and they assure everyone they know exactly what will happen 50 years from now. cap and trade is for sure a scheme to get rich. it is for sure a paper market to get rich doing nothing. it will for sure be bought off.

jobs - american industry is in shambles. american industry is in a 50 year decline. in world war II, american industry outproduced the rest of the world combined. somewhere along the line, working hard boring jobs in unhealthy slave labor conditions became very unpopular. smokestack industries, company towns, mindless factory jobs, they all went overseas where low paid labor can do it for half the price and we can buy it back cheaper than we can make it. the problem is, we are living on our parents inheritance. what do you do? america is obsessed with play, sports, sex, entertainment, scandal, all things that people who do not have to work can obsess over. you dont have to do anything in america. we have freedom from all that. the day is coming when the reserve is spent.

in the '50s japan started producing cameras and transistor radios, then motorcycles and cars. there is actually quite a lot of job satisfaction in building something new the world has never seen. its a form of art, and in america its becoming a lost art. it still happens, but not in every town. many kids grow up with no shop, no skills, no working fathers. mexico now is starting to produce all the appliance goods that are too expensive to ship from overseas. japan has moved their car production to america. japan can build cars in america cheaper and better than america can build cars in america. america has become impotent. just look at congress, what exactly do they do? they campaign. they posture. and the president, he passes on financial reform, i would say that is more important to our health as a nation than afghanistan. he passes on meaningful medical reform, the lobbyists and opposition are really too much for him. the medical industry will not allow a bill to pass that does not benefit them. he fights his war for honor and safety, hundreds or thousands of human beings will die for that. he talks brilliantly about global warming. he gives me no confidence, if global warming were a threat, he could attack the root cause. another paper market, tax credits, bureaus, would be the result. somebody would get rich. the hucksters would fleece the chumps.

when a system is too large to fix, it has to fail. the president is irrelevant. the only things he can pass contribute to the problem. we have a system where nobody can be elected who is foolish enough to speak his mind. the conclusion is that everybody elected is good at talking, but cannot take the risk of saying something which will be used against them and cause them to lose 51% of the people. the critics will employ the media to saturate the airwaves with a single phrase, as if the entire person were a single sentence.

obama has a gay man in some kind of high position in education. the right wing calls him the education czar. god help us if the right wing were to take power, but it seems like any moderate republican could win in 2012. we have a story line in america that racism, phobias, hatreds, are our only problem. i think the pie is disappearing. a gay man who in the past has been more involved in gay issues than in education issues, is not the guy most americans want in a room alone with their school child, or promoting change in the school. call it phobic whatever, the country is at long term risk of serious decline. education sucks. we have fake super-violent wrestling on prime time tv, we have media sensation sex scandals, we have jerry springer paying people to hit each other and look pathetic, and drawing an audience. we have 50% of all children on food stamps at some point in their life, and 80% of black children. we have areas in every major city that you cannot walk thru at night.

we have a flourishing illegal drug trade. we have so many things going on that only people who do not have to work can possibly afford to waste their time on. if drugs are against federal law, then everybody who draws a government paycheck should be tested. everybody who receives government assistance should be tested. if the jails are not large enough to hold everybody, then change the law, because the current policy of apprehending a small percentage is hypocritical and unfair. but we are unable to change laws in any meaningful deliberative way.

we need education. we need writers, researchers, scientists. we need thinkers. somewhere we occasionally need a politician, maybe a one term politician, who has the will to tell the american people the truth. we certainly need some journalists who can research,think and write. the american people, if they want to continue the lifestyle they are accustomed to, they need to mind their business.

obama is not the problem, it existed before he was born. but he does not seem to be politically gifted. the only things i see him doing are things that do not matter or make things worse. he does not know how to make the country come together. he gives his enemies the tools they need to defeat him. he would have not been president if he had not manufactured the public fight with jeremiah wright, but i have a feeling it was somebody else who finally convinced him and came up with that scenario. i hope i am wrong, i wanted him to do well. but i think its time for post-political america, where the american people lead themselves, no leader will come for us.