Most Americans remember the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the kings’ horses and all the kings’ men could not put Humpty Dumpty back together again.” So it is with the Obama administration.
What may have been a promising administration for the United States in the early twenty-first century, like Humpty Dumpty, has taken a great fall. A fall in domestic policy, foreign policy, and maintaining America’s place of power and leadership in the world.
It is obvious that the domestic initiative known as Obama Care is a failure. Even though it is now the law of the land, it appears that the law will be significantly changed or actually repealed. Let us remember that prohibition was also a social experiment which did not work. Nor was it workable for the American people. The underlying tenets of Obama Care, redistribution of wealth and government operated health care is antithetical to American values. Even with sociological and demographic changes which have taken place in this country, such intrusive government programs will not and cannot serve American citizens well. The current administration has accomplished little through the legislative process and has resorted to the heightened use of federal regulations to affect industries from farming to energy production, among others. The private sector appears to be making economic progress in spite of the heavier regulatory atmosphere flowing from Washington. A tribute to a free market economy even when under attack from the highest levels of government.
The crumbling of the current administration is not limited to domestic policy.Foreign policy is a disaster. Leading from behind is a failure. The line drawn in the sand in dealing with Syria is a sham and the treaty executed to calm this situation is failing. The answers concerning the tragic events in Benghazi are still allusive and murky. The reset the administration attempted to initiate with Russia is a failure. Just recently, an Al-Qaeda group seized the western Iraqi city of Fallujah, in the Anbar province, the area of Iraq, where some of the most devastating battles and American deaths took place before American forces left Iraq two years ago. Al-Qaeda is not decimated, no longer on the run, but very active, and as deadly as ever. Did the administration make the correct calculations in Iraq and Afghanistan? Especially, as Iraq is so close to Syria. Does the Obama administration have a coherent and coordinated policy in the Middle East? Or, is the foreign policy of the administration crumbling?
At home, the administration brings back to its inner circle advisors, from the campaign days, such as John Podesta. Perhaps all “the king’s men can put Humpty Dumpty back together. Doubtful. The fall from the wall has been a long and disastrous one for President Obama. There are growing rumblings from his own party about the damage which has been done. And, then there is the 2014 congressional elections looming. Control of the United States Senate, by the Democrats, looks precarious.
Like many parts of our infrastructure, which is crumbling in many places, and in many ways, our national leadership is crumbling as did Humpty Dumpty after his fall. Starting with the White House and rumbling through the Congress, decisions get put off, legislation passed in haste, and civil discourse appears to be a thing of the past.
As the end of the current administration begins to appear in the rapidly closing distance, more and more cabinet officials and administration political appointees will be leaving government. The king’s men will be leaving Humpty Dumpty, broken at the bottom of the wall.
Humpty Dumpty an old nursery rhyme perhaps turned into a modern nightmare. All before our very eyes.
Stephan Sonn says
Editor
This is not at all an op ed; it is a wish list by Fletcher Hall.
Joe Lill says
Editor,
It sounds like more than a few of the author’s traffic lanes are blocked.
James Nick says
Editor,
What we read here in Mr Hall’s latest flight of fancy is basically the death rattle of a rapidly failing ideology. But “ideology” is a misnomer; it adds more credence to a mash up of lies, exaggerations, and reflexive knee jerk opposition to everything and anything “Obama”. By now, everyone pretty much knows what the Republicans are against but no one knows what they are for or what their solutions are.
Poll after poll shows that people are abandoning the Republican brand in droves (e.g., https://www.gallup.com/poll/165317/republican-party-favorability-sinks-record-low.aspx and https://www.gallup.com/poll/166763/record-high-americans-identify-independents.aspx?version=print). They are being increasingly turned off by Republican negativity, obstruction, political brinksmanship, and government shutdowns. And Mr Hall’s Op Ed is a perfect example of this sclerotic thinking .
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the death of Obamacare are greatly exaggerated. Tens of millions have successfully gained affordable medical insurance under Obamacare and the persistently increasing cost curve of health care is starting to show signs of decelerating. And for every one anecdotal horror story of someone losing their health insurance there are hundreds of stories of people gaining a level of peace and security by getting insured.
Mr Hall also speaks of redistribution of wealth under Obama. Here there is a point of rare agreement with Mr Hall except Mr Hall fails to clarify in which direction that redistribution has occurred. It has been well documented and easily confirmed with a simple Google search that the top 1% percent of people in the US own more than 40% of the nation’s wealth. Meanwhile the bottom 80% owns 7% of the wealth. Or, looking at it another way, the wealthiest 400 Americans have the same combined wealth of the nation’s 150 million poorest people which is almost half the population. Think about that!!! These are the very people that the Republicans seek to disenfranchise even more by withholding health care, denying them a living wage, and obstructing their ability to vote.
And it’s not as if these all these wealthy people are the sainted, creative, entrepreneurial job creators of Republican lore. These are mostly people who have manipulated the global financial world to their singular benefit. During the Obama administration corporate profits and the stock Market have soared to record heights. But Mr Hall frames all this private sector “progress” as happening in spite of President Obama not because of him. Does anyone else see the obvious contradiction here? The wealthy have cleaned up. This obscene imbalance in the distribution of wealth alone easily shoots down any criticism that President Obama is a socialist.
As for Obama’s foreign policy, in past editorials Mr Hall has called for Obama to intervene on the side of the Syrian rebels and to take military action in response to alleged use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime. Developing events show that he couldn’t have been more wrong. The Syrian rebels are now at war with themselves and Syrian chemical weapons are being removed from the country right now. It is clear that Obama staying his hand with both a military attack and providing lethal weapons to the rebels was the correct course of action.
The same can be said of Iraq and Afghanistan. Polls are clear: 80% of the American people want us to get our military and money out of there. It is conservative apologists like Mr Hall that are on the wrong side of public opinion. Syria is a monumental mess of galactic proportions and anyone like Mr Hall advocating more involvement there or anywhere in the Middle East is insane.
joel brandes says
Editor,
I believe it is a fact that all men are created equal. I also believe, this country offers equal opportunity for all. Some people succeed and some people fail that is also a fact. What has become very troubling is that so many people who have failed place the blame on those that have succeeded. If president Obama is to fail it is due to his also blaming success for those who have had little or no success. It does get him votes, but does nothing to lift people out of poverty.
Witness the 50 year long war on poverty. Administrative costs are 72 cents of every dollar. The numbers of people living in poverty have little changed. Now the President wants more money for this failed war. It is more rightly a war to keep Democrats in power through big promises with nothing to show except the status quo.
Kathi Donegan says
Editor,
The Boy Who Cried Wolf, I am sure all of you remember the story And so it is with Mr. Fletcher and his doomsday talk once again.
The Affordable Care Act (Obama Care) is not a ‘failure’. While it had an inexcusably rocky start with the website roll out, it is in fact a huge boon to every American across the country.
• You may have already enjoyed the peace of mind of having your insurance extended under your parent’s plan until you are 26.
• Rest easier knowing that a major medical event will not wipe out your savings since the cap on families now lies around the $12,000 a year mark.
And, according to the American Heart Association…….In fact, 62% of all bankruptcies filed in 2007 were due in part to medical expenses, and cardiovascular disease was one of the top reasons cited by families for medical bankruptcy. Notably, nearly 80% of those who filed medical bankruptcies had insurance.
Affordable healthcare is not a redistribution of wealth.It is making sure that your neighbors, friends and loved ones can actually afford to go the doctor. To buy medicine. A friend of mine had to literally make that choice 2 years ago – electric bill or medication.
Moving on though, the Republicans have, in print and on air, said again and again that their ‘job’ is to stop the Obama administration from working. And then how interesting that they turn right around and blame the administration for not getting anything done. I always thought their job was to serve their constituency. Now we have a government that is only concerned with how it works for their paymasters – the lobbyists. Of which, Mr. Fletcher was one. Perhaps still is.
The Middle East? Please, if you have any words of wisdom or magic solutions I suggest you alert the rest of us. That part of the world has been in turmoil for generations. Blaming President Obama for not quieting their restless and to us, incomprehensible hearts is not helpful. Former President Bush got us in and now you blame the next administration for trying to get us out. Benghazi was a terrible day for all of us, but for the GOP to keep bringing it up – and without any new information – borders on rumor mongering.
At the end of the day, President Obama has taken this country from an inherited Great Recession (Bush) and then the edge of the abyss (You do remember the fiscal cliff, right?) to a place where Americans can grow and heal. And the stock market has fully recovered as well. This constant barrage serves no purpose – there is no wolf in the White House.