WHY IS PRESIDENT OBAMA SO UNPOPULAR

Why is Obama so unpopular? He has focused his efforts on the elite and ignored his own constituents.


In a fine piece by David Cay Johnston published in Aljazeera, December 29, 2014, and entitled "What's not to,like about the economic record of this president"? Mr. Johnston summarizes President Obama's economic record over the last six years. What stands out in the summary is where and for whom Obama stands. He has been apparently squarely on the side of the investors, corporatists and bankers. Those of the masses who supported him in the last two elections have received little but empty promises and rousing speechifying. They appear forgotten and ignored in Obamas world view.

Johnston points out that the INVESTOR CLASS should be happy with Obama...the Dow has risen 126 percent while Obama occupied the Oval Office. While the CORPORATE WORLD is giddy with their massive profits which have doubled..under this President. FISCAL HAWKS who fume and fuss about the debt should gloat...our federal budget deficit has shrunk from 10% down to 3% in fiscal year 2015 (note that year began in October 1, 2014). The Affordable Care Act. which everyone loves to hate, tickled the funny bone of one group of WEALTHY INVESTORS. The ACA was a financial boon to the large INSURANCE COMPANIES . They made a killing when Obama refused to go with the "single payer" plan which would have closed the door on their lucrative business. Instead he curried favor with the insurance giants and their powerful and financially connected interests by giving in to those who favored the more costly and less efficient system we have in "Obamacare". Wall Streeters were a as happy as pigs in swill, when he gave away the store to the BIG BANKS with the "stimulus package" issued during the Great Recession---the melt down in 2007-2008. That financial debacle was in large part generated by the financial sector's questionable and unethical investments selling so called "derivatives", such as bundled sub-prime mortgages. During his tenure, to add insult to injury, OBAMA's AG, Eric Holder, refused to prosecute even blatant banking and business crimes. Ignoring the glaring issues of the led up to the Recession. And as if to put the icing on the cake for the Wall Streeters, and to underscore the fact that this Administration cares little for the stability of the banking system and is more concerned with currying favor with this powerful element of the economy, just last month the President signed the CRomnibus budget bill which actually APPROVED THE USE OF DERIVATIVE GAMBLING permitting the bankers to too casually use taxpayer insured bank deposits. In doing so Mr Obama has insured continuation of theses practices, which precipitated the Great Recession. This proves that he and his advisors have either learned nothing from our recent financial history --or that these industries are so powerful that no one in Washington can rein them in. (The term CRomnibus, is Washspeak for "CR" (continuous resolution) and "omnibus" Bill. It is a devilishly complex bit of legislation described by some as the cowardly means by which the government proceeded to insure that the Administration would meet its debts).

So all the big shots should be quite happy with the efforts of Mr. Obama. The average citizen, the little people, the poor, the middle class, the workers, the unionists, and even the African Americans, all those who actually elected this man, are still holding the dirty end of the stick. These latter folks lost their jobs, and some their homes. Their incomes have evaporated, or fallen, or have been essentially frozen over the period of Mr. Obama's tenure. Today six years into the administration of our first Afro-American President they are required to work longer hours, or two jobs for the same or less pay, and struggle just make ends meet.

At the end of the Bush Administration the nation lost more than 4 million jobs. After six years of Obama's "Hover like" inaction and timidity on behalf of the nation's working classes, and small business man, the vast majority of our people are still suffering. Median income is today as I write this are down by nearly $5000 dollars. That is not a great sum so the nation's overcompensated CEOs...but to a man or woman who makes the median income of $54,000 dollars it is a great sum.

So how can we answer the question of why Obama is so unpopular? One must answer that the tiny percentage of the nation who are the recipients of this President's welfare are greedy and ungrateful. They were doing well and are now doing several times better than before. But the vast majority of the Citizenry--those who stoke the engines of the economy with their purchases and their labor-- the vast majority of the population...the average Joe, the worker, small business man, the poor, the needy, the Middle Class...the rest of the nation...are still waiting desperately for succor.
Perhaps Mr. Obama can still fulfill his promises and his job description and find some means to improve the welfare of the people who supported him, and who today desperately need his help.
rjk