Blaming Obama for Not Being a God

Blaming Obama for Not Being a God
By Froma Harrop


Gulf Coast residents are supposedly mad at President Obama for not keeping the oil from threatening their beaches and marshes. We hear this in stereo -- from political opposition on the right and liberal pundits bored by the president's cerebral approach to problem-solving.

Stopping the waves is a job for Neptune, not a president. Obama cannot raise his trident and force the oil back into the hole. There are things he can do, but they're a lot less impressive.

Granted, Obama's early campaign for president cultivated a myth of his godlike powers. And some still seem to buy into the magic narrative. Columnist Maureen Dowd writes that "Barack Obama is a guy who is accustomed to having stuff go right for him." Sunday talk show panelists repeated this idea, followed by "and now look what's happening to him": A vast oil spill brings disaster in the gulf. Israel complicates Mideast diplomacy by killing would-be blockade breakers. The new job numbers are lousy.

With all due respect to colleagues, these things aren't happening to Obama. They are happening to the world. Obama's vaunted "good luck" was in campaign politics, a far smaller and more manageable stage than he's playing on today. There has never been a time in world history when stuff wasn't happening.

No, his stimulus didn't end the scourge of high unemployment. That is a long-term and structural challenge, made tougher by the recent recession. No one is going to cheer a 9.7 percent jobless rate, even if it was a tad below April's. But one can argue that it might have gone a lot higher without the stimulus.

Obama's critics can rationally blame him for announcing plans to expand offshore drilling -- especially before cleaning up the sex-addled Minerals Management Service, which is supposed to regulate the industry. But they can't ask, as some on the right have, why Obama hasn't managed to stop the crisis a mile underwater. Or, as the left asks, why the administration put faith in BP's early reports about the blowout. The answer to both questions is that BP is there, a mile below the surface, and the U.S. government is not.

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http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2010/06/08/blaming_obama_for_not_being_a_god_105877.html

everyone.

an outstanding job even as all the corporatemediawhore lies and internet cheap shots swirl around him.

Why is it necessary to point out that an opinion is an opinion?

IMO..he's exactly as he was during his history in the Senate, the primaries, and the General and in his earlier career.

mine smell like pinapples in case u were wondering

yes, both

:hi:

:P

knu

:shrug:

:)

:rofl:

he can handle anything the corporatemediawhores and the internet whiners spew out.

How come G.W. Bush got whatever the fuck he wanted with a small majority and sometimes even a minority in the Senate?

Health Care Reform..no thanks to all the fucking blue dogs(yeah, I'm talkin' to you, michael arcuri) and gNOpsassholes who voted against it and anything else worthwhile.

bush got shit blown up his face..had no foundation..didn't have to pay for shit.

Yeah, I'm glad it passed and everything, but it wasn't what the public was expecting or needed.

as it is just what they need.

and I think the fact that the Republicans ALWAYS went along with anything Bush wanted, had a lot to do with it. Not too mention the Dems that also voted for things.

When Obama was trying to get HCR passed (among other things), he couldn't even get all the Dems on board much less any Republicans.

There was a lot of fighting within our part.

I think that has a lot to do with the way things played out during Bush vs. Obama. But that's just my opinion..and well you know what they say about opinions. :-)

of everything. And they always stick together. No circular firing squads there.

.... the response is (crickets.....)

is taking advantage right now to pile on the President but he can handle.

The hate just bounces off.

Everyone has an opinion. There is only one President.

Too bad he can't hurl the F word at a few of them.

does something that has to do with something other than the gulf.

Obama doesn't have to be God to increase the efficiency of the response to the spill.

it's not good enough.

How high is the bar? Unreasonably high?

And the liberals are helping them along in their belief.

What is fucking wrong with you? Every drop the government can help get out of the water is very important.

Making it unimportant.

You'd give credit for what has been done if every single drop were that important.

But more can and should be done. We shouldn't merely accept this as the most possible or "reasonable" and be content.

He must do everything you wish, and even that will not be enough