Is President Obama taking Republican treatment personal?
By Roger Caldwell
As President Obama celebrates the confirmation of Loretta Lynch’s nomination, on one hand he is ecstatic, and on the other hand, upset. It should not take Sen. Mitch McConnell, president of the Senate, five and a half months before he can find time to have a vote on the President’s nomination. President Obama has been mistreated at every turn, with obstruction and disrespect; the fundamental goal of Senator Mitch McConnell’s treatment.
The Democrats understand that their agenda is at a standstill because the Republicans are in positions of power in both Houses. With this new sense of power, the Democrats can expect things to get nastier and uglier with the Republicans. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Rand Paul, the three early officially announced Republicans running for 2016 presidential campaign, have decided to spend their time attacking the president and his policies.
From this point on, the President and the Democrats are the enemy, and this makes for a very contentious legislative session. During the last session, the Congress was labeled as the do-nothing Congress, and this session it will be considered the broken and dysfunctional Congress. Many political experts argue that not much will get accomplished this session, and the blame will be put on the president.
“The things that these GOP candidates stand for run counter to the Democratic message. They are against the minimum wage. They are against helping ensure equal pay for women. They are against health care reform. They are against immigration reform. They are against a fairer tax code that treats work the same as wealth,” says Greg Rosenbaum, Chairmen of the National Jewish Democratic Council.
President Obama has reached a new understanding of his office, and he knows that he has only one year and a half left in his time on the job. Many Republicans are starting to call him the lame duck president, but the President does not take the easy way out. The President takes his job personal, and he is extremely proud of his accomplishments.
His signature program, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), will probably sign up in 2015 over 10 million people, and it is very hard to get solid numbers. The numbers go beyond exchange and Medicaid enrollment, and include a significant gain in employer-sponsored insurance. The unemployment rate in March 2015 stood at 5.5 percent, and last year stood at 6.5 percent.
The President is always saying that he has cut the federal deficit in half, and he is telling the truth. The federal deficit is the difference between federal spending and revenue, which was $1.4 trillion when he took office, and now is around $514 billion. The Republicans are right when they say the total debt has increased by 65 percent since President Obama took office.
Gasoline prices have remained in check and the national average is around $2.65 per gallon, saving Americans money at the pump. The greatest oil boom in this nation’s history has occurred during the president’s tenure. A combination of new technology and crude oil has jumped the production of oil by 72 percent. Wind and solar power has tripled during President Obama’s watch, and the amount of electricity produced from these two renewable sources has increased by 221 percent.
As the Republicans continue to attack the President and talk about what he has not done, the president should start a major PR campaign to present his record of achievement. President Obama will not run away from his record because in every area in the country, he has improved on Bush’s record.
It is time for the Democrats to have the President’s back, and not allow the Republicans to say derogatory statements that are not based on truth. The President should also challenge the fraudulent statements based on conjecture by the Republicans, and push back on their ignorant treatment.
