He says he’s not the Obama you voted against

In Star Wars, when Imperial storm troopers stopped Obiwan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker and his 'droids, Obiwan, using his Jedi mind control power, simply said "these aren't the 'droids you're looking for," and the storm troopers left them alone. After last Tuesday's election, President Obama held a press conference, where he expected his "I'm not the Obama you voted for" approach to his failed policies would send us all on our way, satisfied that he had nothing to do with the outcome of a national election that became a referendum on his policies.

Instead of speaking to the majority of voters that sent a clear message that they are opposed to his policies and the direction he is leading this country, he speaks to the “two-thirds” that didn’t vote: "As President I have a unique responsibility to try and make this town work. So to everyone that voted, I want you to know that I hear you. To the 2/3 of voters who chose not to participate in the process yesterday, I hear you, too.” He indicated no connection with the policies we voted against. So as he has done so often, he acts like he has had nothing to do with the problems he has caused, and instead says it's time for him to come to our rescue and fix it for us. Then he acts like all of the voters who didn't vote would have voted for his policies. How confused is that? There wasn't some kind of voter suppression going on that made the election turn out the way it did. Besides the fact that historically the elections between the presidential election years don't bring out as many voters, the luster is fading on the Obama image that was created to bring about his election. Many people weren't voting because

1. they no longer believe he can do what he said he would do for them,
2. they opposed what he has done so far and didn't see an alternative to the pro-Obama candidate that was running,
3. they just don't care enough about the legislative process to even register to vote.

But even if he could blame the anti-Obama rout on "his" voters not going to the polls, that would mean faulting the Democrats' campaign machine, which apparently had no effect on even those who already support him! A machine, by the way, that outspent the Republicans in numerous instances. Mr. President, the main reason people voted against your candidates, or didn't vote at all is because people either don't believe in your promises any more or they are outright opposed to your agenda! Oklahoma's incoming US Senator James Lankford explained it this way in a TV interview on the Huckabee show Saturday: "...he's not going to listen to the one third of Americans that actually voted, he wants to listen to the two thirds that didn't actually vote. To me that was the most jarring disenfranchisement of voters I've ever seen. It was basically that people that voted don't count.” "People didn't just not like Democrats and so they put in Republicans. Millions of people around the country said this is a better set of ideas, we want local choice, we want state control of these issues, we don't want the federal government in every part of our life....The answers to the nation's problems aren't coming out of Washington, D.C. The problems in the nation right now are coming out of Washington, D.C. So let's turn the authority back to the states and the local leadership, families and churches…"

Rolf Yungclas——Bio and Archives

Rolf Yungclas is a recently retired newspaper editor from southwest Kansas who has been speaking out on the issues of the day in newspapers and online for over 15 years