Politics
Obama’s Excellent First Year
Dec 21, 2009
By Steffen Schmidt
By Steffen Schmidt
I ran into a long-time Republican friend yesterday whom I like, respect, and who is a true blue conservative.
“Steffen, how do you think Obama is doing?” he asked.
I said “Well Steve, the economy is in recovery, the banks did not collapse, he is sending help to Afghanistan to kick some terrorist butt, he got the Nobel prize (remember, Teddy Roosevelt got that one too!), he went to Stockholm and pulled a rabbit out of the hat in the final hours, healthcare reform is about to make it through Congress, how do YOU think Republicans are doing Steve?”
Steve looked taken aback.
“Well, I think we’ve got him and the Democrats on the run,” he said, sounding less than very sincere.
“Well, tell me what the GOP plan is,” I queried.
“Less government, more freedom,” he shot back as if there was any doubt.
“Ok but how’s less government going to get the Taliban, North Korea, Al Qaeda, and Iran on their knees Steve?”
I can be cruel.
‘Well we need more military spending and finish the war of course.”
I looked Steve straight in the eye –“Then how about infrastructure? I drove into town yesterday for final Christmas shopping and 69 reminded me of the streets in my hometown of Cali, Colombia in 1958. Chunks of concrete, potholes the size of a Hummer, and frost heaved sections that made my SUV feel like a train on bad rails.”
As I said I can be cruel.
“Well, ya we need to keep roads and bridges fixed,” he admitted. “But we use road tax funds for that.
“Ok then what about law enforcement, first responders, EMT services for your grandma [I happened to know that she lives in a rural small town with no clinic or hospital], fire, DNR to keep trash hunters off your property [he told me he had a bunch of slobs on his farm shooting anything and breaking every good hunting rule]. Those are all government services. Oh yeah, and new public schools. We need those don’t we?”
Steve was getting really annoyed especially since he is a contractor and bids on all kinds of government projects including roads, bridges, schools, government buildings, flood relief reconstruction programs and all kinds of other stuff that is 100% pure taxpayer money spent by local, state, and the feds.
We parted with a hearty “Merry Christmas” in a year when Happy Holidays is falling out of use as never before.
The reality is that the Republicans are really annoyed at Obama, mad at the Democrats but above all are trying hard to find a theme song for their 2010 campaign (“Less Spending”) and for the 2012 “Big One” (“Smaller Government!”) - The contenders are ready - Sarah, Mitt, Huck, and Pawlenty, Jindal, and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)?!
What the Heck – SANFORD?!
Here is what PoliticsUSA had to say about him just recently.
What he’s got: Southern roots, experience as a governor, has been an early and vocal critic of the Obama stimulus.
What he lacks: National name recognition, fund raising, appeal outside of the GOP.
Well after his adventures with the Argentine “soul mate” he’s overcome the “no national name recognition” problem!
Merry Christmas!
I think for a new kid on the block Obama has had a pretty good first year!
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Steffen Schmidt is a University Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University. He provides weekly political analysis for Iowa Public Radio, and periodically in Spanish for CNN en Español. He also serves as chief political and foreign correspondent for InsiderIowa.com
