Obama governing as promised, so what's wrong? (Yes, they're serious)

The New London Day ^ | September 5, 2010 | The Editors

Posted on Monday, September 06, 2010 3:37:58 PM by 2ndDivisionVet

It is hard to recall another president who so aggressively pursued the policies he campaigned on only to see his popularity plummet as a result. But such is the case with President Barack Obama.

It is understandable why those who voted for Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona would be so disenchanted with the Obama administration. Sen. McCain, after all, sought a far different, more modest approach to health care policy. The Arizona senator made fiscal and social conservatism a priority, talked of tax cuts and emphasized gun rights. As expected, the president has followed a much different agenda.

Harder to understand are the many who voted for Mr. Obama, only to now abandon him. This quick change of heart is most apparent among the growing ranks of unaffiliated voters who tend to float back and forth each election cycle, fingers to the wind. Their disenchantment with the president and his Democratic Party will likely mean big losses for the Democrats in the congressional elections.

As Americans prepared for their Labor Day weekend, the Rasmussen presidential tracking poll showed only 27 percent strongly approving of the president's performance, 43 percent strongly disapproving.

No one, certainly, should have been surprised that President Obama sought a dramatic overhaul of the health care system, with an increased government role to play. It was a centerpiece of the Obama campaign, a regular in his stump speech. Did those backing Mr. Obama not expect it to be expensive, complex and result in a bitter political fight? Democratic leaders going back to President Truman had attempted health care reform and failed.

The prize for President Obama achieving it was lowered approval ratings for him and his party.

As for the war in Iraq, the president achieved his goal of ending combat operations. How things play out from here, as the U.S. military transitions to a support and advisory role, remains to be seen. But the president seemingly scored no political points on an issue that once dominated the national debate, but now is an afterthought for voters.

In fiscal matters, candidate Obama made ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans a priority and is pushing forward with that plan, which no longer appears very popular. He also promised to put the cost of two wars back in the budget, knowing it would make the fiscal situation look far worse. It has.

He did not campaign on bailing out auto industries, or launching a nearly $1 billion stimulus program, but the severity of the economic crisis demanded drastic action. The auto industry was saved and the stimulus mitigated the seriousness of the recession.

President Obama has not ended wasteful government spending or improved efficiency, as he advertised, but will get the chance when dealing with a next Congress in which Republicans will likely hold a stronger hand.

Cap-and-trade to reduce carbon emissions, a financial carrot to encourage education reforms, tougher regulation of Wall Street, were all policies the president campaigned on.

Perhaps many who voted for Mr. Obama never supported these policies. Maybe they just wanted change after eight years of the Bush administration and didn't read the fine print. Certainly the lack of a vigorous recovery from the Great Recession is dragging down the president's popularity, but no economist predicted a rapid rebound.

In many ways, he's exactly who he said he'd be, and many of those who voted for him apparently don't like it.