Pres. Obama turns 49 today. On this auspicious occasion,we’re mindful of an article published on the front page of the Los Angeles Times last week titled, “Obama the Velcro President,” that said, in part:
If Ronald Reagan was the classic Teflon president, Barack Obama is made of Velcro.
Through two terms, Reagan eluded much of the responsibility for recession and foreign policy scandal. In less than two years, Obama has become ensnared in blame…
But Obama remains the colossus of his administration — to a point where trouble anywhere in the world is often his to solve.
The president is on the hook to repair the Gulf Coast oil spill disaster, stabilize Afghanistan, help fix Greece’s ailing economy and do right by Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official fired as a result of a misleading fragment of videotape.
What’s not sticking to Obama is a legislative track record that his recent predecessors might envy. Political dividends from passage of a healthcare overhaul or a financial regulatory bill have been fleeting.
Instead, voters are measuring his presidency by a more immediate yardstick: Is he creating enough jobs? So far the verdict is no, and that has taken a toll on Obama’s approval ratings. Only 46 percent approve of Obama’s job performance, compared with 47 percent who disapprove, according to Gallup’s daily tracking poll.
It’s particularly a shame that the incompetence and malfeasance of his predecessor, George W. Bush, the Worst. President. Ever., has stuck to Pres. Obama. It also a travesty that the same corporations-first, American-citizens-last Republicans in Congress who rubber-stamped the disastrous policies of Bush that brought on the crises we face today are now capitalizing on the public angst their crises have created.
These are injustices that only he and his team can resolve. In that spirit, the present we would give the president for his birthday, if such a thing existed, would be a suit tailored out of the very best grade of Teflon.
We could certainly use a Teflon president right now.
