Happy Birthday Obama administration! You have been in power for over a year and in the words of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel, you certainly haven't "let a good crisis go to waste." You continued a government spending spree that would make a Hollywood heiress blush with embarrassment. As the unofficial head of the Democratic Party, you wielded the congressional power vested in your caucus rashly, neglecting quality economic reform in favor of sloppily constructed healthcare legislation. Detrimental to your own interests, you created enough strife within the nation to save the Republican Party from falling into permanent impotency. While those trends may seem alarming to rational Americans, in reality the first year of the Obama administration simply proves that instead of change, Barack Obama's presidency truly represents more of the same partisan politics.
The Obama administration's self-destructive progressivism may prove the Republican Party's godsend. The president still maintains a certain element of his Teflon aura. The most interesting political trend to emerge, however, is the president's astonishing ability to derail the careers of his supporters. As U.S. News and World Report contributor John Aloysius Farrell notes, "The big thing the Democrats suffer from now is arrogance." So, while Obama may still be reveling in the glory of a respectable job approval rating, it appears that his wingmen, such as retiring Senator Chris Dodd and Senator Byron Dorgan, are taking the electoral heat. Coincidence may play a partial role in the professional fraying of the members of Obama's liberal network. Nevertheless, the frequency of the professional declines is enough to make any good Democrat question whether Obama can administer a party and a government as well as he can run his own campaign.
Democratic incumbents have been dropping like flies in the opening month of 2010 beginning with Senators Dodd and Dorgan announcing they would not seek reelection. Likewise, Democratic Governor Bill Ritter announced he would not be running in the 2010 Colorado gubernatorial election. All three democrats were facing difficult reelection bids with many polls showing them trailing significantly behind possible Republican challengers. The departure of those leading Democrats invokes questions regarding the future stability of the Democratic supermajority in Congress. Michael Steele, Republican National Committee Chairman, commented that Dorgan's announcement, "highlights just how vulnerable both Senate and House Democrats have become since deciding to walk in lockstep with President Obama's government-run policies." While many leading Republicans are interpreting the current incumbent announcements in a similar manner, there is also the possibility that the stepping down of faltering Democratic politicians is another wily move by party leaders to secure the seats with fresh party blood. That theory proves even more plausible when considering the campaigning prowess of Obama and his political strategists.
In the wake of Obama's first year in office one of the most interesting announcements of an abrupt career transition came from Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey can arguably be given credit for launching Obama's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination by endorsing the candidate on her show in May 2007. Since the announcement, Winfrey has been bosom buddies with the president and first lady. She even flew to Copenhagen on Air Force One to support the president in his personal appeal to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago. Unfortunately, Winfrey's television show ratings have begun to fall, dropping a full 7 percent last year. Many commentators have attributed Winfrey's decline in ratings to her political maneuvering for the current president and the subsequent alienation of a portion of her viewing audience. Fortunately for Oprah, Obama has been known to cut deals for loyal supporters. Vice President Joe Biden's wife, Jill, made this clear on Oprah's show when she indicated that, "Joe had the choice of being secretary of state or vice president." The only question that remains is if Oprah's final taping in 2011 will serve as the platform for her own entrance into politics, just in time for Obama's reelection campaign.
Although Obama's actions indicate the persistence of the good-old-boy system within the Beltway, a shroud of mystery continues to envelop the 44th President. Many of the Obama administration's policy stratagems appear confusing to the average American and the outcome of the executive branch's first-year objectives remains up for debate. In lieu of the promised substantial economic progress, the nation faces faltering domestic security and looming economic concerns including high inflation and a continued lack of financial market liquidity. Under those circumstances, the average American may be tempted to call into question the competency of the sitting president. I urge the American public however, to afford the same leniency in casting judgment on presidential leadership as Obama extended to the alleged Fort Hood murderer Major Nidal Malik Hasan, and "caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all of the facts." The administration is only one year old after all.
Ginny Robinson's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at g.robinson@cavalierdaily.com.
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