What has happened to the president?

From day one of his presidency, the Republican Party has been unanimous in saying “no!” to every one of Barack Obama’s initiatives. Such unanimity has obviously been the program of a party hell-bent on rendering Obama’s life miserable and his enterprise bankrupt. At the same time, the billionaires of America, whose holy book is Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” have been buying up members of Congress to fight any piece of legislation that threatens to reduce their already obscene profits. Hundreds of lobbyists are all over Washington, D.C., working their tails off for such mammoth money-makers as the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

As these lines are being written, the health-care reform bill, which has been on the table for months, is in real danger of being killed by Republican filibuster now that a Republican has won the seat of the late Sen. Ted Kenney, who had been one of the most passionate workers for health-care reform.

But the president is not devoid of responsibility for the very steep drop in his popularity with the American people. A year ago at his inauguration ceremonies, 1 million men, women and children braved heavy rains and sharp frigidity to attend — more people than at any time in the history of the presidency. My daughter, son-in law and their 8-year-old son drove from New York to Washington for what they then described as one of the most inspiring experiences of their lives. The hopes of the majority of the American people were very high; perhaps too high.

I began to worry about President Obama when he announced his choices as his battery of aides. How can this be, I asked myself. Here is the man whose election campaign promised constructive changes in future policy, changes designed to put Bushism and Cheneyism out to pasture and reinvigorate democracy in America. His choices were heavily involved in the disastrous decisions of the last administration. Some were instrumental in bringing about the economic disasters that we are still facing. Some were among those who encouraged the wars of Iraq and Afghanistan. Some had been part of the criminal lobbying aforementioned.

During his brilliant campaign, Obama promised that if elected he would bring the troops back from the complicated wars they were fighting in which so many of them were killed, not to mention the many more that were killed on the other side. Then we hear that our president wants more billions of dollars to add tens of thousands more soldiers to our boys (and girls) in Afghanistan.

What is going on here? What has happened to the Barack of only a year ago? I do not know. But I do think that our president is a man who is out to please everybody, including George W. Bush, whom he has sent to “help” the dying, the dead, the hungry and the thirsty in Haiti. This is the same guy who falsely accused Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction, who knocked out financial regulation in whatever degree and whose administration remains responsible for the economic misery in which so many Americans have been terribly hurt.

Wake up, President Obama, or the masters of misery will be calling the shots once again.

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