The New Obama Paradigm

We the people have certainly come a long way since President Obama was inaugurated a little over two years ago. In January of 2009, the nation was at the precipice; or experiencing, as Obama and others referred to it, “…the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.” True. Things were bad and getting worse. But let us take a little bit of a retrospective and look back upon where we’ve been and how far we’ve come under twenty-six months of Obama.

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In January 2009, when Obama took the reins, the nation’s unemployment rate stood at 7.7 percent. Four months later, it was 9.4 percent. It peaked in October of 2009 at 10.1 percent and, until February of ’11, had been at or above 9.0 percent for almost two full years.  Since his inauguration, unemployment has averaged 9.4 percent; and that is giving Obama credit for the 7.7 percent low that was recorded the month that he assumed office. This represents quite an accomplishment on the Democrats’ part – given that we the taxpayers were told that, by passing the $787 billion stimulus package, unemployment would not exceed 8.0 percent. The act passed in February of ’09, future generations are on the hook for another trillion dollars, and unemployment has not been below 8-1/2 percent in two years. What we have is a new way of looking at things economically or, as I like to call it, a “new Obama paradigm.” It represents a whole new way to look at our economic well-being (or lack thereof as the case may be). The president loves to make speeches, beat his chest, and proclaim that things are turning around. Do people honestly believe this? How many people do you know actually feel secure in their jobs? Obama and his cohorts like to point to recent gains by the Dow Jones Industrial Average as a sign that recovery is taking place. But wait. Is this not the same Wall Street that the administration has continually vilified for the past two years with its Wall Street versus Main Street rhetoric? Obama and his minions have been trying to place our financial markets under ever-increasing governmental control since day one.

“Flat is the new UP”

A business associate in Seattle shared with me a saying that is being used by his contemporaries regarding sales over the past two years: “Flat is the new UP.” In other words, forget all about sales increases; if you’re doing the same business that you did last year, you’re doing great. This is all well and good, but have we actually digressed to this point? Are we honestly satisfied with mediocrity? Have we resigned ourselves to the fact that, if Obama and his comrades continue with their ways, America may never return to the economic prosperity that it once enjoyed? Not only are we mired in debt up to our eyeballs with trillion-plus dollar deficits as far as those eyes can see, we are assured of ever-increasing taxes to fund the Dems’ health care scam. And we have a Congress that had, until this past November’s elections, been attempting to pass Cap & Trade further encumbering the economy by placing more onerous taxes upon the American people. To say nothing about a value added tax that seemed to be a distinct possibility, also. It is any wonder that business is frightened? Has the administration made any kind of effort to convey the idea that they are really in FAVOR of economic growth? No. If the administration was so pro-business, why has there been such meager growth in the private sector? The fact of the matter is that, after the recent events in Wisconsin, Obama and his cronies have shown themselves to be solidly in bed with organized labor and are, in fact, anti-business. And you thought that prostitution was against the law? The past twenty-four months have conditioned us to accept the fact that one of every eleven working Americans is unemployed. That this is somehow acceptable – that it is just the way things are. And now we have gasoline again nearing four dollars per gallon which is going to further hinder the economy. Going out to dinner – or to a movie or a ball game – is now considered a luxury to be enjoyed for special occasions only. And we seem to be accepting this, also.

"America Apologizes 2009” world tour

Then there is America’s standing in the world and the damage that the president has done thereto. Almost immediately upon his inauguration, Obama embarked upon his “America Apologizes 2009” world tour. Like a rock star, he traveled the world apologizing for the fact that America was, in his words, “arrogant”. He bowed down before foreign leaders with the expectation that the world would like us again. And what do we have to show for this? We have just as many, if not more, American servicemen and women being killed and maimed in combat in Afghanistan. We have terrorists still trying to kill us as evidenced by the arrests of one Islamic radical on an airliner with explosives in his undergarments and another with a carload of incendiary devices in Times Square. And we have unrest in the Middle East the likes of which we have not seen in our lifetime. So much for the president’s plans to have the world hold hands with us and sing “Kumbaya”. With Obama’s approval ratings at just about fifty percent, it is safe to say that Americans are becoming less and less enamored with the president’s performance. What remains to be seen is whether or not we can survive another four years of the “new Obama paradigm”.