Barack Obama: “You know, sometimes these pundits, they can’t figure me out. They say, ‘Well,why is he doing that?’ That doesn’t poll well. .... I know it doesn’t poll well. But it’s the right thing to do for America.” (Kansas City. Mo.)

So he has pressed on, at great cost. The rescue package, the stimulus program, health care reform, finance reform. At the same time his administration is managing the largest oil spill in American history, an unsettled Iraq, a conflict in Afghanistan.... “He can’t catch a break,” as someone put it.

All the while, the Republicans keep sounding the drumbeat of “No!” on nearly every major piece of legislation — including the refusal to extend unemployment benefits to 3 million people, while at the same time pushing to keep in place major tax breaks for the upper class that are due to expire.

Obama has failed to “change the tone” in Washington, but not because he hasn’t tried. Yet, he has been able to “reset” our relationships with world leaders.

Is the only criterion for evaluating leadership doing more about “jobs” and “debt reduction” in a time of recession with many forces beyond his control. “He can’t catch a break.”

If the pollsters are right, and their predictions hold that the Republicans will become the majority in the Congress in November, there is little hope that they will bring about a better day.

“I know it doesn’t poll well. But it’s the right thing to do for America.”

 

Robert J. Wilde

Anderson, S.C.