As many of us, the lucky of us with over 14.8 million Americans out of work, face our own job performance reviews with a little bit of dread, it’s clear that American voters dished out their own. Some politicians got fired, and those not up for re-election got a wake-up call. Hey, we have to do this every year and not only is it unpleasant to have to “read this and sign it” as our bosses criticize us, but the chance of a raise this year is often unlikely, in part due to politicians’ poor performance with the economy. And with yesterdays exit polls stating that nine in ten voters believe the economy is in bad shape, it’s obvious that the economy and jobs are our number one issues. Do we have to say that again?
And now that President Obama has just somberly addressed the nation, recaps all over the press are saying “Obama just got his butt kicked”. When asked, he admitted, “It feels bad.” He continued, “No one party will be able to dictate where we go from here. We must find common ground in order to make progress on some uncommonly difficult challenges.” Yes, we want common ground, but more than progress, we want results.
Many are comparing Obama to Clinton mid term right now and not favorably. He’s being criticized for no mea culpa and for being distant. They want soul searching and a president ready and willing to make radical changes as Clinton did. People do process things differently. He said, “I don’t wish a fate like this on future presidents…to take a shellacking.” We all know what that feels like. Pundits are saying “he didn’t appear to signal that he was going to make any big changes going forward.” Whatever we may personally think of Obama, he is a smart man and twenty-four hours is nothing to process “a shellacking” and decide what direction and changes our President will make. He has no choice but to change and admitted, “We’re gonna have to do a better job.”
Many have lost their sympathy for the president and feel he deserved the shellacking. According to Huffington Post, “At a time when, as a Washington Post poll reported last week, 53 percent of Americans fear they can’t make next month’s mortgage or rent payment, the president chirped inanely to Jon Stewart that his top economics adviser, Lawrence Summers, who was paid $8 million by Wall Street firms while advising candidate Obama, had done a ‘heckuva job’ in helping avoid another Great Depression. What kind of consolation is that for the 50 million Americans who have lost their homes or are struggling to pay off mortgages that are ‘underwater’? The banks have been made whole by the Fed, providing virtually interest-free money while purchasing trillions of dollars of the banks’ toxic assets.”
Many are now advising Obama to shift to the center so he can be re-elected. How about not worrying about re-election, not worrying about trashing the other party, not worrying (Tea Party candidates and Republicans) about repealing the health care bill, but worrying about our economy and jobs. Do that and you WILL get re-elected.
It seems like our politicians don’t know what’s real anymore. What’s real to us is that we don’t know where we will be living next month or even next week. We don’t know what we will eat tomorrow. We don’t know how we will live once retirement comes. And we don’t know when or if we will ever hold a job again. If anything yesterday, that is our message to you. Don’t tell us we are “frustrated” …starving, homeless and jobless people are way beyond frustrated. They are hopeless and in fear.
Tea Party winners and Republicans will have to take note. Overpromise and not delivering is not overlooked by American voters. Rhetoric won’t get you far. We want hard work throughout the year and not just when you’re campaigning. That’s the secret to acing your performance review.
Hopefully now, our politicians will work together, find the common ground, keep their eyes on the real issues and help President Obama do his job, at least for the next two years before his next performance review. We don’t need the Rand Pauls of the world saying, “We’ve come to take our government back.” We need them saying, “We’ve come to work together for real solutions.” Is that too much to ask for our politicians?
SIDEBAR: Yeah for the women. Previously fewer than half the states have had female governors, twenty-three in total. Six women are currently in office and three new states have elected their first female governors: Mary Fallin in Oklahoma, Susana Martinez (the first Latina too) in New Mexico and Nikki Haley in South Carolina.
