Logos of the Bogus

The View From Reality

Posted by Bernard Hall on Aug. 1, 2010 | 2 comments

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President Barack Obama made a personal appearance on The View earlier this week. Of course, I did not see it, however, it was all over just about all of the other news shows and news channels. So let's ask some basic questions. Was this the best use of the president's time? Is this all we have for the president to do?

Of course the answers are no. The decision to go on there was pure political. Politics is the basis for all of the decisions that the president makes, so why should this one be any different? I agree with the governor of Pennsylvania when he said that the president should be treating the office with more respect and dignity. We should all agree with that statement.

The president is obviously trying to raise his poll numbers with women voters. But instead of making a goofy appearance on a hen party gabfest, he should be looking to resolve what is actually causing his approval by the American electorate to be eroding.

Early in the year, the president was to make jobs is number one priority in 2010. Where is that priority? Evidently, the president is taking his priorities as a count down working its way to number one. So if we don't make it to number one by November 1, we still have until December 31 to claim a political victory for his base.

How's the economy doing? GDP figures for the second quarter are showing another decline. After a year and a half of spending several trillion dollars that we do not have, the inevitable slowdown in the economy is beginning to show again. Simply saying that things could have been worse is not much consolation. This recession has been going on too long or too many Americans. Despite what the GDP numbers say, we cannot claim that we are in recovery.

How about those two wars that we have had enough of? Iraq cannot be seen as a success story. Well, it can be if you compare it to Afghanistan. The deadliest month since the beginning of the war has been superseded by another deadliest month since the beginning of the war. Putting a new strategy in place with the new general has yet to show results. How long do we have to wait for this? I'm sure it will be shortly after the economic recovery.

The administration has been taking a power grab at everything they can get their hands on. And it's been a lot this year. Health care, the auto industry, the financial sector, the list goes on. Even items such as a climate bill that Congress cannot agree on, it's going to have negative effects shoved on the American public anyway. Then the administration wonders why businesses are not expanding? Every week businesses are being hit with new regulations and new uncertainties that are taking their toll on the bottom line. As a result it's also taking a toll on their top line. The uncertainty is not boosting investor confidence or consumer confidence. Yet it seems strange that the administration cannot figure this out. Perhaps it's because nobody in the administration has any business experience or business sense.

How much longer can we hear that the Republicans are merely obstructionists and the Bush administration is to blame for the nation's ills? On party lines alone, the Democrats should be able to get anything through Congress that they wish. Perhaps there might even be a couple of Democrats that have enough sense to rubber stamp anything without thinking. It's time for the Obama administration to take responsibility for the direction of this country for the past year and a half. But, because it's not going in the right direction, it has to be somebody else's fault. It's the Obama administration to "man up." From the results that we have seen, they just can't do it. Not even with the ladies from The View.