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During the 2008 election, I was really excited. I watched all of his town halls if I wasn't in class. I wrote posts on DailyKos about my fervent support of his candidacy. I watched the debates. I donated. I volunteered. I know what he promised and what he said he would do. So if I feel disappointed in what he's done, or a bit disillusioned because I don't think he's done enough that's my right. Does that mean I'm disappointed in him because of his race? I'm Black, does that mean that I expect White people to save this country? No. It means I'm disappointed. I had really high expectations for President Obama. I believed what he said during the campaign. My biggest issues have been with transparency and GLBT rights. With regard to transparency, I don't think he's been significantly more transparent than the previous administration (they were doing things like refusing to release the visitors log to the WH). Well, actually they've gotten much better lately (they started releasing the logs). During the campaign, President Obama frequently said "I may not always agree with you (or was it "be right", but I will tell you what I'm thinking" more times than I can count. I believed that. Yet, this year has been fire with "leaks" that consistently contradict themselves. Some people called them trial balloons, I don't know what the hell they were. But they made me feel like I was being lied to or deceived. Sure Obama himself never came out and said the stuff, and a lot of it was "anonymous WH aides", but why didn't Pres. Obama himself just release a statement to clear it up?
President Obama said he'd end the political games in Washington. Games I admittedly didn't know much about because this is the first time in my life that I'm REALLY paying attention. Well, it seems to be that the same tired games are being played. Part of that is Republican obstructionism, which is wrong because I do think Obama deals with them in good faith, and part of it is "Conservadems" who have no damn excuse to be the way they are. Everyone is still playing games, and more often than not it looks like Obama is willing to compromise with the center-right and right wing, but isn't willing to compromise with the left/progressives. That can be frustrating for a lot of people. Health Care reform was supposed to be played out on CSPAN, yet there have been a lot of secret backroom meetings where we don't know what the hell is going on. Joe LIEberman is holding the Senate Bill hostage over policies that he's supported before, and reports are coming out that the WH is encouraging Reid to capitulate to his demands. These don't look like change. It doesn't feel like change. No, I didn't expect it all to be fixed and wonderful at the end of a year, but it doesn't even seem like steps are being taken to change the way things are done.
With regard to the economy, I'm frustrated. There's nothing Obama can do to make me less frustrated short of hiring me himself. I'll freely admit that. I don't want to hear about how he thinks about the unemployed every day. I want to SEE what he's doing to fix it. I'm not a laborer, I have two degrees, so when I hear about "green jobs" like insulating a house, that's not something I can do. I'd like to see more reform with regard to student loan repayment because we are getting fleeced out here (but that's another topic for another day).
Like I've said before, this is the first time I'm paying attention, and it's really making me wish I'd stayed uninvolved emotionally and otherwise. Just go to my civic duty and vote, and go home and ignore everything else. Paying attention is getting me nowhere. And now valid policy disagreements are being labeled as "racist" because Obama is a Black man. Well, I happen to think that Obama would be getting the same criticism if he were White. President Obama has a LOT of crap to deal with, it's going to be a long tiring process and he's going to get criticized a lot. I think the problem is that during his campaign he wanted us to "hope" and to expect things of him, and now that he has the job none of it is playing out as he would have hoped. In the beginning I think a lot of it was the Republicans being assholes, then it was the Conservadems being assholes, now I don't know maybe everyone in Washington is an asshole.
Overall, I think I've come out of this entire situation more cynical. I'm not inclined to believe Obama just because he says it. I'm looking to see what he does. Yes, my opinion has shifted over time, but as circumstances and situations change, so do opinions. I don't think all is lost, it's quite possible that Obama will "redeem" himself in my eyes before his first term is over. I like him personally, I just don't care too much for how he's governing right now.
Today I've seen some crazy stuff being said all over the place. Some people really just need to take a break. I support our President 100%. All I want is for him to do the stuff he promised to do.
Sorry if this was a little rambley, I'm just trying to express my thoughts (and I don't even know if I've done a great job of it, but I'm going to have to stop this stream of consciousness at some point ~lol~).
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