OBAMA: ORATOR, LEADER, OR BOTH?

Anyone who viewed President Barack Obama’s speech before the joint session of Congress last evening recognizes he is a superb orator. My immediate reaction following the speech was that he impressed me with his confidence and aggressive stance to resolve our problems and protect our American values.

Early polls by AOL this morning indicate that our president has wide support, but not on all issues of his administration. With a 62.5% approval rating he clearly is doing much better than his Congressional colleagues with a mere 31% approval number.

In an AOL News poll with 151,258 voters here are the results to the question: How would you rate Obama’s speech?

Excellent 48%
Poor 20%
Fair 17%
Good 15%

I was surprised that the speech did not receive over 50% approval, and thus the results indicate that there are 52% of the respondents reporting a reaction below the excellent category. Now I know that this is a stretch, but I thought it would have been better received nearing his 62.5% approval rating.

In another AOL News poll the question was asked: How long do you think it will take the economy to get back on track?

1-3 years 48%
4-6 years 31%
More than 10 yrs 13%
7-9 years 3%

Here I see greater confidence than I had expected, and that is a good sign for our economy, because confidence is a driver of the stock market Also, in the same poll there is another interesting question: How would you describe your own financial situation?

Fair 41%
Good 31%
Poor 21%
Excellent 7%

These results are encouraging too, but the 21% Poor figure is a concern for everyone, and I suspect that it will get greater before it can reduce in size. These polls had over 100,000 to 200,000 respondents and thus have some degree of validity.

Of concern to your Commander is the continued interjection of looking back and blaming someone else by directly suggesting that Former-President George W. Bush was the sole cause. In fact, many of our current day problems can be directly laid at the feet of the Democrat majorities in both the House and Senate, and this detail is being skimmed over.

Additionally, I am gravely concerned by an Administration that ran a campaign against earmarks and now has the gall to tell us that the Stimulus Package and the coming Appropriation Bill are Earmark free, when in fact both are loaded with pork. Both the Republicans and Democrats are guilty of loading legislation with self-serving Pork and it must stop, and the current administration must stop lying to the American Public saying they are against pork and that its legislation is pork-free. Newsmax.Com reports that there are 9,000 earmarks in the new spending bill.

I continue to struggle with hope for this new Administration, but until it starts telling the total truth and stops dancing the old Washington Two-Step and lying to the American Public, it will continue to receive my close scrutiny. I recognize that President Barack Obama has many deep debts to repay for the support he received in the recent election. He is no longer a candidate, but our president, and he has a sworn obligation to the American Public to be a leader of total integrity, with complete transparency, honesty, and operation in a bi-partisan atmosphere. I understand our president needs to use caution as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid operate with a smile and stab in the back, political double-speak approach.

As I have written earlier, beware of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, because they have been known to eat their young. They will turn on you Mr. President, and you owe them nothing…your obligation is to the public.

Mr. President you say you’re withdrawing troops from Iraq, but some 50,000 will remain. You say the savings from the end of the Iraq War will more than cover the cost of increased troops in Afghanistan, and the remainder will apply to your spending programs, but clearly that does not compute. Your new programs represent massive increased long term spending, but how can you in good conscious place that tax burden upon future generations?

We the little people must make every effort to trust our president, but he has much yet to prove. Only time will tell. It is one thing to be a great orator, but it is quite another to be a great leader. He will never be a great leader if he continues to play the Washington double-speak game with the American people. I think he has the ability to lead our great nation, but he better start being presidential and not constantly cutting corners due to political obligations. The people should always come before party debts. Please, Mr. President, do the right thing.

COMMANDER GRANGER