Very telling figures here... along with direct quotes about each subject from Obama (or his administration). Gonna be awfully hard to sweep these under the rug in 2012. Wonder if he'll even try?
So, once again, the point seems to be that a president has complete control over the economy? It worries me that people seem to view the president these days the way precivilized African tribes viewed their ceremonial King: responsible for all the prosperity and all the devestation of his people by divine favor. Maybe Cheney had a point: a unitary executive is the only way to make this ideal even partially reflect reality. It's a bad idea, but it seems that people think it's the reality.
He definitly doesn't have complete control, but he probably has more control then anyone else and therefore is more responsible. Obama has not been succesful in turning around the economy. I think he is a good and decent man, but has yet to pull us out of this mess. (Although he hasn't gotten much help though from the senate or congress) Acknowledging that.. I'd still like to see the new Jobs act get passed as I think there are alot of good ideas in it and I am not of the mindset that the key to economic growth is to just un-regulate big business and let them run wild as it seems thats how we got here in the first place. In contrast to some of my friends on the right, I want to see him succeed not because I love Obama, but because I love this country. Unfortunately I get the feeling many would rather see us fail if it means that the other party's guy is in office.
How much does it really matter whether we want to see him succeed or not? Do individual's feelings really have any impact on the bottom line? If the jobs bill passes, he'll be adding another trillion (give or take a few billion) to the deficit with absolutely no guarantee it'll be any more effective than the first one. Not exactly progress, is it?
But not enough control to actually make a decisive change on his own. And I honestly don't think any one individual could in his situation. Not in this political environment. The world has changed since the days of FDR. After Nixon, faith in government collapsed. Then, thanks to the new media, everyone's an "expert." No one's looking for leadership anymore. That's why we're not finding it.
Actually quite a bit. The GOP has made it quite clear that thier #1 goal is to make Obama a one term president. Not to fix the economy, not to increase jobs, not to propose solutions etc.
