President, Constitutional Monarch, Saint

The federal government shutdown was averted at the last moment, after the poor and the middle class paid heavily to make room for tax cut for the rich.  After that, a most amazing event took place - President Obama came out of his hideout and proclaimed victory.

This president's reluctance to fight for any principle is highly unacceptable, considering after George W. Bush's reign, it was a perfect storm for correcting the wrongs.  Obama wrestled the opportunity from his competitors and opponents then squandered it on his vain hope to unite the deeply polarized nation.

His determination to stay above the nitty-gritty politics suits a constitutional monarch well.  For a political leader a president supposed to be, his such effort resulted in the disarming of his own party.

His such effort also rendered a present missing in action.  His opponent liked to call the biggest achievement in his troubled presidency Obamacare.  However, to be fair for those who drafted and fought for the bill, it really should have been called Pelosicare.  What achievement can we really attribute to his most intelligent president?

At the eve of the government shutdown, Obama announced his plan to run for re-election, with a goal of raising $1 billion obscene amount of money.  Why would we want to have a president we might be able to fight for the right direction of the country but refuse to?

Paul Krugman in his article The President Is Missing

During the fight over extending tax cuts for the rich, Obama compromised early and tried to mollify his disgruntled supporters that he would fight it in the future, implying after hie re-election.  However, his track record is a poor advertisement for such hope.  It's too big to be true.

Some Republicans have made defeating Obama their top priorities.  It seems to me that Obama has made his re-election the top priority.  It might be the top priority of his, but by no means the rest of the nation, or the left half of the nation.

We need to yank this country to the right track.  With an aloof, hands off constitutional monarch, such effort is doomed to fail, particularly after he'd surrendered his narrative and ability to define the political debate in the nation.

Paul Krugaman said this in his article The President Is Missing:

His remarks after last week’s budget deal were a case in point.
Maybe that terrible deal, in which Republicans ended up getting more than their opening bid, was the best he could achieve — although it looks from here as if the president’s idea of how to bargain is to start by negotiating with himself, making pre-emptive concessions, then pursue a second round of negotiation with the G.O.P., leading to further concessions.

What’s going on here? Despite the ferocious opposition he has faced since the day he took office, Mr. Obama is clearly still clinging to his vision of himself as a figure who can transcend America’s partisan differences. And his political strategists seem to believe that he can win re-election by positioning himself as being conciliatory and reasonable, by always being willing to compromise.

But if you ask me, I’d say that the nation wants — and more important, the nation needs — a president who believes in something, and is willing to take a stand. And that’s not what we’re seeing. 

If you still believe in his promise to fight the tax cuts, it's time for reality check.  Obama now jumped into Republican's bandwagon and wants to cut more federal spending in the future.  Now you see, that the political debate in the next general election is about spending cut, not tax cut repeal. 

Krugman continued:

I realize that with hostile Republicans controlling the House, there’s not much Mr. Obama can get done in the way of concrete policy. Arguably, all he has left is the bully pulpit. But he isn’t even using that — or, rather, he’s using it to reinforce his enemies’ narrative.

It seems to me that being a constitutional monarch is not really Obama's goal.  He actually is running for sainthood.  However, I prefer a fresh and blood president who fight for the right principles.

Let's not kid ourselves.  Obama has failed to do what the majority elected him to do.  And if he had refused to act in his honey moon, under best circumstance, would you please he would act after being neutered repeatedly?  More important, would you hire someone for another four years after four years' failure?

Even if hope lingers, can he prevail?  When he claims that the ideas of his opponents are good but he can do better, he sets himself up for a defeat, and consequently another four or eight dismal years for American and the world people.

Dirge © Matthew Felix Sun