“Buck Up”: The rallying cry for a failing administration
In less than two years’ time, the motto of the Obama administration has gone from “Hope” and “Change” to “Buck up.” In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, the president said that it would be “inexcusable” for Democratic voters to sit at home instead of voting in the midterm elections and that “People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up.” [1] Now, I have in the course of writing on this blog supported people needing to be more informed and getting out to the polls to make their voices heard. On that, the president and I agree. However, I completely disagree that his administration and Congressional Democrats have lived up to promises. They claimed that they would fix the economy. Instead, we’ve got a ‘jobless recovery’ at best, [2] though Mr. Obama argues that this isn’t a ‘jobless recovery,’ citing the tepid private sector job growth that has not even come close to balancing the jobs lost during the recession. [3] The President promised to close Gitmo. As far as I know, Gitmo’s still open for business. In fact, the first criminal trial of a Gitmo detainee was just delayed. [4] They delivered a health reform, though few people understand what exactly it will do to reform the system except require each and every one of us to have health insurance, [5] which naturally worries people in fear of losing their jobs due to a stagnant economy, especially when a study from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Studies projects that health care costs will continue to climb with the Democrats’ ‘reform’ in place. [6] No wonder we’re being told to ‘buck up.’ There’s nothing but bad news coming out of the Democratic-run Washington.
The latest Gallup poll of likely voters has been drawn on by many in the news media as portending doom for Democrats in the mid-term elections. [7] While a part of me feels that maybe they doth protest too much so that on November 3rd, the administration and Democratic leadership can say of any losses that it wasn’t as bad as people were predicting, it does reveal that people haven’t bought into the plans presented by the Democratic leaders in Washington. The President has said that he should have done more to sell the health reform to voters, and I agree. Instead of he and Biden zipping around the country from fundraiser to fundraiser, it might be a better strategy to focus on their jobs and focus on getting the nation back on track. That, more than any parade, fundraising dinner or campaign rally would motivate voters to keep Democrats in power. I’d like to be proven wrong and to believe that ultimately the government will lead us forward into something better, but frankly we have been given little assurance besides being told to “Just trust the Democrats” and “It would be worse under Republicans.” We need to be told the plans that Democrats have for making things better and seeing results instead of being told that they’re there though we don’t see them. Frankly, the last time we had a president treat the American people with due respect was Bill Clinton. When I think of President Clinton, I think of early on in his presidency where he delivered a nationally televised speech explaining why he was going to have to raise taxes. He laid out the picture for the American people and explained that short-term pains would eventually lead to long-term benefits, and lo and behold, the man from Hope handed a budget surplus to his successor (who then promptly spent that and got us into record debt again). Now, instead of getting explanations, we’re told to “Buck up.” “Buck up” is not the “change we need.” [8] Far from it, and if Mr. Obama and the Democratic leadership does not understand that simple fact, if all they can offer us is ‘just trust us,’ then they are no different from the administration and leadership they replaced.
