Obama's First Year as President

As we celebrate Obama’s first year as president I have mixed feelings regarding his administration. On a one hand I am glad that we are no longer under the Bush-Cheney mismanagement in every respect, financial, diplomatic. On the other hand there are major disappointments regarding Obama, starting with some of his choices such as Summer and Geitner. These are people who were in part involved with the debacle that we are still living with, and that we will pay financially for years to come. What makes matters worse is that we have thrown money to big banks that we didn’t have and that, in retrospect, we should have never done. Those banks turned around and used the money to give themselves big bonuses, and lobby Congress to block any major reform. Main Street America has been hurting in part because these institutions have been reluctant to lend to businesses and to borrowers who wanted to take advantage of the cheep and abundant housing market. Of course there are still people out there who still believe that the housing market has touched bottom and turned around, and others who say that values still need to go further down. To both I say the same: “if you can foresee the future let me borrow your crystal ball”.
Going back to the banking industry, together with the pharmaceutical and health insurance industry, they are the leaches of this country, and are running the place to the ground.
There is a movement out there right now who is trying to encourage people to take their hard earned money and take it from the big banks and put it in local banks. Unfortunately the average American is misinformed and greatly brainwashed into believing that their money is safer in big institutions. Nothing could be further from the truth. Their money is just as secure in small and large institutions alike because it is guaranteed by the Federal Government. And if we have to base ourselves in recent events the institutions gambling with the peoples monies were the large ones.
I remember when I moved to the United States in 1985 banks could not cross state lines, and regardless of the regulations there were in New York institutions such as Manufacturers Hannover Trust, The Bank of New York, Chemical. These banks are long longer in existence, they were taken over. Then banks were allowed to cross state lines. This did nothing for small business and the average citizen. The banking industry needs to be heavily regulated.
Another disappointment has been the stimulus. First with an economy that is 16 trillion in size, 750 billion is just a drop in the bucket, second the types of investments and when they take place is not going to turn around the unemployment number soon, and with that the democrats will likely lose the House and quite a few Senate seats in November. With this happening a lot of Obama’s plans will most likely not happen. What makes matters worse is that if the Democrats cannot hold to the Massachusetts Senate seat that will be decided in the very near future, Obama’s healthcare bill will also be history.
Another big disappointment is the healthcare bill, and what has seemed a total lack of passion on Obama’s part. As much as I dislike EVERYTHING the Republicans stand for if this would have been their proposal, like the tax cuts of 2001, the Invasion of Iraq of 2003, and so on, we would have had a bill passed and signed by now, and would have taken effect immediately, not in 2014 like the proposals in the Legislative branch have right now.
I wonder if this is how he is treating his number one bill, under circumstances that will unlikely repeat themselves for some time, having the House, filibuster proof Senate and the Executive branch. How is he going to manage if Democrats loose the House and Senate seats. We know that Republicans have been the party of NO, but if he doesn’t have more force, the future doesn’t look good for him and his party.
Maybe the election of 2010 will come as a rude awakening to Obama and the rest of the Democrats.