Piling On!

It’s fashionable these days to be dissing Obama.  He’s weak.  He’s naïve.  Obamacare sucks.  He’s not doing a good job on the economy.  We are not respected overseas.  Etc., etc.

A more balanced assessment would show that:

We haven’t used military force in Syria while other options were still available.

We have said we’d talk with the Iranians if there were a chance talk rather than going to war was a viable option.

Obamacare will make health care available to 25 million people who until now haven’t had any insurance.

Republican strategy is organized around the basic operating principle that stopping Obama from doing anything is more important that the welfare of this country or its people.

Obama can have an impact around the margins but without Congressional approval there can be no meaningful immigration reform or gun control legislation or government spending appropriations or debt limit increase, + + +.

Yes, his style and demeanor can be frustrating.  He hasn’t been communicating effectively.  But is it a mistake not to be rushed into meaningless wars?  Is it a sign of weakness to not want to engage in the politics-as-usual game?  Is it a lack of leadership to stand against the tide of negative polling when self-serving lobbyists are manipulating the people responding to these polls?  I don’t think so.

Honest criticism is appropriate and useful.  Piling on because others do it isn’t!