Hopenchange Being Lost In Iowa

03 Nov, 2009 by William Teach

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One has to wonder how dismayed the Fish Wrap Of Record has to be regarding the era of fairy dust and unicorn poots to actually allow an article critical of Obama which shows people losing that hopenchange feeling (cue Goose and Maverick singing to Kelly McGillis). Granted, the article appears on page a12, but, it’s a start!

Pauline McAreavy voted for President Obama. From the moment she first saw him two years ago, she was smitten by his speeches and sold on his promise of change. She switched parties to support him in the Iowa caucuses, donated money and opened her home to a pair of young campaign workers.

But by the time she received a fund-raising letter last month from the Democratic National Committee, a sense of disappointment had set in. She returned the solicitation with a handwritten note, saying, “Until I see some progress and he lives up to his promises in Iowa, we will not give one penny.”

“I’m afraid I wasn’t realistic,” Ms. McAreavy, 76, a retired school nurse, said on a recent morning on the deck of her home here in east-central Iowa.

“I really thought there would be immediate change,” she said. “Sometimes the Republicans are just as bad as Democrats. But it’s politics as usual, and that’s what I voted against.”

I have no idea as to the purpose of that last sentence, but, yes, Pauline, you and the rest weren’t realistic. And, not to tell you we told you so, however, we told you so. I don’t mean to pick on you Pauline, you are just standing in for all the others who were blinded by Jim Jones, er, Barack Obama, and bought a pig in a poke. At least the pig is useful.

Certainly, there is nothing in the Constitution that states that a candidate has to actually have a clue, but, the Founders figured that someone who reached the advanced age of 35, middle aged in the 1700’s, would have some experience in actually being in charge of ……something. Anything.

One year after winning the election, Mr. Obama has seen his pledge to transcend partisanship in Washington give way to the hardened realities of office. A campaign for the history books, filled with a sky-high sense of possibility for Mr. Obama not just among legions of loyal Democrats but also among converts from outside the party, has descended to an unfamiliar plateau for a president whose political rise was as rapid as it was charmed.

In fact, we all said that he was full of mule fritters, that the campaign promises about things such as bipartisanship were not worth the time it took to put them on the teleprompter.

A social studies teacher who saw Mr. Obama on his maiden visit here wonders whether momentum from the election is gone forever. A retired electrical engineer who became a Democrat to support Mr. Obama believes that the president too often blames others for his troubles. And a teacher who voted for Mr. Obama because she was fed up with President George W. Bush does not trust this administration any more than the previous one.

I had trouble finding Dubya on the ballot.

“It’s overdue for him to actually take charge here,” said Ms. Johnson, 57, a social worker in the town of Nevada.

One thing that would sour them on Mr. Obama, they said, would be a steep escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

That’s what he promised to do during the first part of the Neverending Campaign, Ms. J. Were you listening, or, just enthralled?

As Mr. Obama approaches the anniversary of his election, the sense of possibility and the dash of romance that moved many voters are no longer apparent. The challenges of governing have eaten away at the optimism. The pace of government intervention has also jarred many voters.

Don’t worry, he’ll have all sorts of new promises come 2012. Things like bringing the unemployment rate down below 15%, a GDP above 1.3, stopping the rolling brownouts/blackouts, meat for dinner on Friday’s, and a new bike so you can get to work because gas is $8 a gallon.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove