Change is Far From Washington

By Jonathan T. Tallman

“Change we can believe in, change is coming to America, it’s a new day in America.” Do you remember this great political rhetoric in the 2008 presidential campaign? If you do, you have one up on President Barack Obama. After the past two weeks of watching the White House and the Democrats in Congress push for a $1 trillion stimulus, it is obvious the American people will have to wait longer for real leadership in the Nation’s capitol to come forward.

I went into this new presidency hopeful that President Obama would fulfill his promises of change and bipartisanship. Even as a Bush supporter I was disappointed in the tone in Washington. President Obama has quickly alienated me and many other Americans through his first few actions as president that is far from the glowing promises we heard throughout the election.

In his first news conference as president-elect, Obama said, “I’m going to go in there with a spirit of bipartisanship.” Although most people would agree bipartisanship would be nice to witness in the heated debates of Washington, President Obama quickly turned his back on that pledge. Last week, Mr. Obama claimed it was too urgent to strive for bipartisanship and that Republicans needed to remember “I won the election and you lost.” Not the type of soaring rhetoric we heard prior to Inauguration Day, is it?

Many Democrats fire back claiming that Republicans never welcomed them at the Bush White House, and there may be some truth to that. However, when you run on the mantle of change and claim that you want to extend your hand across the aisle to move the country forward and you don’t follow through, an explanation is needed, not an excuse.

President Obama completely sealed Republicans out from this, and he was wrong and partisan in doing so. He did invite them to the White House and he did meet with them on Capitol Hill, but what good does it do to meet with people when you go into the meeting with the preconceived notion you aren’t going to listen to what the other side has to offer? It makes great evening news videos, but it certainly does nothing for the factory worker who just lost his job somewhere in America and now has to struggle even more to put food on his family’s table.

This “stimulus” bill demonstrated two things about the new administration: the bipartisan rhetoric in the campaign was simply that, rhetoric, and that the problems Americans have seen in Washington in the past are far from leaving any time soon. Republicans may have made mistakes over the past eight years, but that shouldn’t be used by an administration of change to excuse itself from its own weaknesses.