[quote=Allan from Fallbrook] Jim: I frankly don’t know. In light of the Bush/FEMA/Katrina fiasco (and I say that from a PR standpoint, in that I hold the New Orleans first responders and the State of Louisiana primarily responsible for the God-awful handling of that crisis), I would have thought the Obama Machine would have been way out in front of this thing. They’re not, and with every day that passes, the perception of dithering, ineptitude, and incompetence increases.

I’ve caught the Sestak imbroglio only in passing, so I cannot comment there, but was frankly taken aback during the Obama presser by how scattered he appeared. The Left has gone to great lengths to paint Obama as cerebral, but disciplined and capable, and I’m not seeing that.

Shit, things have to be bad when freakin’ Tom Friedman turns on you![/quote]

Ha! I like your last sentence, Allan, even though I’m not necessarily in full agreement with you. Truthfully, I think that Tom’s column is simply a contractual obligation: the Times requires him to take umbrage with Obama four times a year, with abundant demonstrations of outrage, no matter the political atmosphere. In all honesty, while I believe that the oil spill will create unprecedented environmental damage to the Gulf Coast region, and beyond, and severe financial hardship to many of those who live and work there, I think that Mr. Friedman was reaching a little in stating that Obama had missed an opportunity to energize American citizens, and lead them into a charge against oil dependence.

However, I do agree completely that he DID miss an opportunity – a political one. While I’m not convinced that most Americans are champing at the bit in their intense desire to fight our oil dependence – in fact, I think a great many of our citizens are overwhelmingly convinced that “oil dependence” is a dastardly lie being perpetuated by the intellectual elite, who are trying to hide the well-known fact that oil supplies are infinite – it is much easier to push a political prerogative when visions of oil-slicks, ruined coastline, and lots of dead waterfowl are the pages and airwaves of the media.

You’re spot-on with your analysis of the performance of the Administration. This has been going on from the first month of the presidency. At first, I thought that it was the White House staff and Administration officials (which is not, in any way, an attempt to excuse Obama, as they were selected by him). In his first year, it appeared that they were making most of the bumbling moves, while he kind of lingered in the background, only to emerge at the last minute with a decisive move or inspiring speech. But he seems to have run out of steam since the end of the health care battle. And don’t let me get started on the Sestak thing.

I don’t think it that the President and his administration fail to take opportunities as much as they fail to recognize them. I’m an independent voter: I can, at times, demonstrate leanings that appear to be clearly liberal or downright conservative, depending on the particular issue (in short, I’ve always got people pissed off at me). For the past ten years, I’ve felt, very strongly, that those running the Democratic Party have no clue as to what’s going on with the middle class citizenry of this country. So when “opportunities” present themselves, the Democrat power structure simply doesn’t recognize them as such. I cannot believe the cluelessness of these people.

I’m not excusing the Republicans. I’m in awe of their skill in gauging the concerns and frustrations of the American people. The problem is that they exploit this, without any intention of providing relief. They get people worked up over government overspending, over taxes, over “death panels”. Then they head into the Senate and House chambers, and it’s business as usual. And I don’t buy into the “Tea Party” at all. Not only aren’t they organized worth a damn, I believe that many of them are right-wing extremists trying to force the Republican Party they belong to into ultra-restrictive far-right views. And force-feeding us Sarah Palin in the process.

Allan, please tell me there’s hope. You can lie to me, if necessary. I’m used to it – I’ve been voting for many years.