Are You Feeling Disenfranchised?

The economy continues to get worse. The headlines give little cause for optimism, let alone hope. Didn't President Obama get elected because his platform was one of reform and hope? Why, then, am I not able to conjure up any enthusiasm for his pledges and programs?

There is a rumbling in grass-root America and it is growing ever louder. Many American are feeling disenchanted, dispirited, and disenfranchised. In the early days of this economic crisis, there were a predictable few malcontents who blogged about an approaching Armageddon. but in the last couple of weeks, this has been echoed in the main-stream media. Reputable TV journalists have recently started talking about class warfare and insurrection with no hint of hyperbole and no wink of irony.

I did not vote for President Obama, but neither did I despair when he was elected. In fact, in the first few days of his presidency, I started to feel hopeful and optimistic. These feelings, however, are now starting to fade and appear to have been misplaced. Instead of bold new programs we are getting bigger doses of the same old ones. Instead of an inspired bi-partisan stimulus package which would turn the economy around and engender a new optimism, we have been treated to ill-conceived programs and uni-partisan pork.

Obama has squandered his hard-won mandate and surrendered his political capital to an out-of-control democratic congress and the Queen of Pork, Nancy Pelosi. It's very clear who really has the power in Washington, and it is not Obama!

A financial analyst whom I greatly respect and admire, Mitch "Mish" Shedlock, had a wonderful post on his blog this morning which perfectly captured the betrayal I have been feeling. He says everything that I could hope to say on the subject. Read, Dear Mr. President, With All Due Respect... for some critical insights.

"Oft expectation fails, and most oft there

Where most it promises; and oft it hits

Where hope is coldest, and despair most fits."

--William Shakespeare