Nestor Hernandez
The United States entered a recession period in 2007. When President Obama was elected everyone was talking about how he was going to deal with all problems that were left unsolved by former President George Bush. The main topic talked about was the economy. People were desperate to find out how the new president would contribute to better the economy.
On his first speeches Obama , focused on the economy saying that he was going to do everything on his power to improve the economy. People were already relying on his word. As time went by the public was dissatisfied with the outcome. The unemployment rate was increasing and the Obama admistration was not successful at creating more jobs. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has predicted that “unemployment rate will remain high for five years.” The public started to question if Obama strategy would really work.
Obama was and still is under pressure because Americans are still waiting for that change. The president not only has to deal with economic issues but also domestic and international issues. He can’t just focus on one problem; he has to work with staff and congress to approach the most important issues affecting the nation. Another issue he has to deal with is immigration. Immigrants relied on Obama that he will pass a law that would allow them to work and live in the United States legally. He can’t alone make the decisions. Some people do not understand when a new president sets in, he has to explore his surroundings and then start acting on his main priorities. People were expecting greatness from him and they wanted to see change right away. When people see that it is not how they picture it, they start criticizing the president. He has been called a liar during one of his speeches. Republican Joe Wilson interrupted Obama during his speech and said out loud “you lied”. He later apologized by saying that “This evening I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the President's remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill. While I disagree with the President's statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.” It can be said that after such incident Obama continued with his speech and that shows that he is strong character and that’s why he is leading the nation.
Recently Obama appeared on the John steward “the daily show”, he emphasized that change is not going to happen right away and “"When we promised during campaign 'change you can believe in, it wasn't change you can believe in, in 18 months, yes we can but it is not going to happen overnight" Obama said to applause from the audience. “We're going to have to work for it." He is letting the public know that he is doing the best he can, to better the situation that he is been facing since he came into office. When the public is satisfied with the president performance and keeps the economy in good shape they tend to be more lenient when judging the president. For example the media coverage of the Lewinsky scandal, it was a mistake on the president clinton's part to have an affair but since the economy was good, people kind of let it slide because he was doing a good job. Public performance as president counts and Obama will have to show his abilities that he can do it. This way he will keep the public happy. Although he might not be involved in a scandal but if the economy is good, he will be a successful president. I think he has been efficient to this point because no other president has faced many challenges. For example the post 9/11 atmosphere, war in Iraq and the economic crisis.
What we can hope that is things get better as his term matures, so that people can really notice that he is a great president and that he will do what he promised. “change that we can believe in”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/28/barack-obama-jon-stewart-the-daily-show
This is an interesting topic to discuss. As mentioned, this isn't a change that can be made overnight. What I'd like to know more is how have different medias covered this issue and Obama's promise to the American people. You can also add in the current statistics on the issue to show if there is any improvement.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me like people like to flip flop every second.If the republicans are in office, we need to vote for democrats and vice versa. Frankly, I don't care if Obama takes a while. I think that most peoples perception is that he's not doing anything and that is the problem more than anything.
ReplyDeleteI agree, President Obama did promise change many people did not realize that the economy is so bad that it will take a while for significant change to be noticed by the public. They also fail to realize that the President has a lot on his plate. I have also realized that this is the first time that the public continues to hold on to what he said at the beginning of his campaign like what he said is set in stone and things cannot change. Or maybe it is just me!!!
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