Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Lowering Already Low Expectations

It's hard to disappoint someone who's as politically cynical as I am. I had fairly low expectations for Obama, really. "Hope" that he'd be reasonably competent and "change" from the horrible disaster of shrub/cheney. Not a whole lot more. But I did kinda expect him to be more politically savvy. He showed a gift for rhetoric during the campaign, and an ability to make a 'sales pitch' that was just short of Billy Mayes.
So I'm scratching my head at his latest move, a "spending freeze" that appears completely pointless. It's not a real freeze, or even a good idea, and it certainly isn't going to sell to the "deficit hawks". It's certainly unpopular with "the left" (whoever the hell we/they are), and won't rally any support toward the November elections. The only folks who might react positively are beltway pundits like Broder, and I doubt that even they'll like it.
Seems like a totally wasted effort that won't gain Obama any political capital. I never expected all that much from Obama, but I do wish he'd be a little shrewder about how he uses his gift for oratory toward a somewhat meaningful agenda.
Barack, buddy, you're really not doing very well when you manage to disappoint someone as cynical as I am.

1 comment:

BadTux said...

I wouldn't count myself as "the left". All I'll say is that adopting the economic policies of George W. Bush is not a good idea if your goal is to blame the current economic woes upon your predecessor. Just sayin'. You adopt your predecessor's policies, you *own* this depression.

Hope Obama likes his one term. 'Cause nobody else is gonna enjoy it a whole lot, with nonsense like this in hand. He might as well just go ahead and change his last name to "Hoover" and get it over with.

- Badtux the Hoover-scryin' Penguin