Obama = Change?

There was a phenomenal op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123734209584965205.html#mod=djemEditorialPage). It really speaks to the divergence between Obama’s rhetoric and action; and to the blind, mob-like naïveté of the masses who elected Obama in the first place.

It is common knowledge that Obama ran and won on an anti-Bush campaign. “Change” was his moniker, and change was presumably what America wanted. But as many supporters of McCain knew, change was artificial. Not only was making any substantial changes going to be difficult, but more importantly it was just downright poor policy. Many of the Bush era policies were well thought-out, necessary and appropriate. Obama, however, knew that an anti-Bush campaign was a ticket to the White House. He therefore campaigned by using language that disparaged Bush’s policy. This was apparently done in contrast to Obama’s knowledge that such policies were beneficial. [It is possible that he didn’t know at the time that these policies were worthwhile and is only learning now. It is a much scarier thought; however, that the man did not have a basic understanding of how things worked when running for the office of President.]

While I must say that the supposed failure to change the enemy combatant policy, as the WSJ points out, is something that I am pleased with; however, the author’s point that Obama gets far less criticism than Bush for the very same policy is a bit scary. This speaks to a couple phenomena that are disheartening: 1) that Obama is willing to distort his message and use slogans and rhetoric in order to achieve his political goals; and 2) the fact that anti-Bushism (which has often been extended to anti-Republicanism) combined with the godlike aurora that surrounds Obama has blinded so much of America into giving Obama nearly free rein.

The bottom line is that Obama sold America an image, not substance, and unfortunately America bought it. He is quite easily proving this with his horrible management of the economy, as well as with his inability or unwillingness to make the changes he promised (of course often with much positive benefit for America). The scary thing is that America could be bought so easily.