Buyer's remorse


By Jim Killebrew

[October 30, 2014]  The President has said the democrats who are shunning him during the campaign because of his nosedive in approval ratings really are his supporters, and all of the policies of the Administration are still on the table for this Mid-Term election.  For sure it has nothing to do with the flow of scandals coming out of this Administration; at least that is the claim of the Administration.  Even the President says, "Scandal, what scandal?  These are nothing but phony scandals."  The President pushes the blame onto someone else, usually starting with former President Bush.

There are some, however, who believe those races between the Senate democrats and their opponents are so very close because of the apathy of the American people for the voting process in Mid-term elections.  Perhaps with a combination of voter apathy, and the fact the democrats are not running on any progress they have achieved with the President and their support of his policies, but the demonization of the republican opponents, that many people will simply stay at home and forget about the election.

 

I know it is unlikely that the majority of voters who voted for the President in 2008 and again in 2012 will not give a rip about all of those scandals. In fact, many of them likely agree with him believing they are "phony scandals." However, the real thing they cannot deny is the higher taxes, higher cost of living, inflation, higher gasoline costs, loss of jobs, higher cost of healthcare, and on and on. They are experiencing that first-hand each day as they make purchases even with WIC cards, welfare checks, food stamps or any other kind of "currency" from the government. Even that buys less than it did when the President started. Additionally, many people feel a "buyer's remorse" in that they are not getting those things the President promised when he was a candidate. Even the more esoteric things like the "hope" that racial tensions would have been much improved, more transparency in government, a closer working relationship with Congress, the closing of Gitmo, legalization if immigrants, and cleaning up the environment to achieve an evenly, stable, milder climate has not been accomplished. In contrast the masses have seen his 1% lifestyle with excessive golfing, multiple millions of dollars being spent on his and his family's many exotic vacations. In essence he has taken from them what he promised just to use the resources for his own pleasure. People have soured on him, and many may not even know the reason why; notwithstanding all the things about scandals I have mentioned before.

Because of all that, even with the voter fraud (favoring the democrats), low voter turnout, ramped-up republican enthusiasm, and apathy from the Mid-Term voting malaise, there is a real positive feeling that America needs to be rescued from the lack of leadership and a growing fear that the President and those who support him actually do favor the Islamic talking points rather than the Americanism supporting the American Dream. For that, I believe most Americans who vote, mostly republicans, independents, and some disillusioned democrats will all vote to "throw the bums out."

[By JIM KILLEBREW]