Death Of A Salesman

From the title, you might think that this blog is about Willy Loman, the famed lead character in the Arthur Miller play "Death Of A Salesman". But, no, instead this entry is all about Barack Obama.

In the Miller play, Loman killed himself because he felt no longer useful in his occupation. In a way. and in the real-world of politics, Obama continues to commit political suicide. The public now finds that he is not, and never has been either useful or effective as a President.

Last week "was the week that was" for Obama. It signaled a week where not only the political right and much of the center disparaged him; but, it also saw the hard left criticizing him. The door to the left's dissatisfaction may have been opened when that Clinton-era icon, James Carville, began openly criticizing Obama for his handling of the BP Oil Spill. From there, we saw the likes of Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Maureen Dowd, Jon Stewart, and a whole host of normally Obama-loving opinion writers attacking his broken promises, lack of accomplishments, and, most assuredly, his handling of the Gulf disaster.

The Gulf Oil Spill has unmasked Obama to most of those who had been blindly in love with this guy. The facade and mystique has now faded for many of those on the left. A facade that many on the right saw long before he was even elected. For sure, Jimmy Carter is probably doing cartwheels because his horrendous title of being the "worst President" is in jeopardy; thus bumping him a notch above Obama in history's recollection of his own bumbling administration .

Clearly, the evidence that the fairy tale is over comes from the Rasmussen poll which now has Obama at a meager 41% approval rating. This, from a President who, when taking office only a year and a half ago, had a near 70% approval. And, for now, that 27% percentage point drop in Obama's approval even beats the 25% drop that Bush saw in the polls over his entire Presidency; from 55% when he took office to 30% when he left.

Nothing that Obama has promised has come true. From Guantanamo, the economy, unemployment, to health care and the oil spill. Obama has lied and failed in each and every case. He was going to restore our stature in the world; yet, now the world sees us and, specifically him as being weak and ineffective. Our enemies are starting to walk all over us and we are losing friends such as Israel and Britain. It seems like everything that Obama does, goes against polled public opinion, and it appears that he couldn't care less. He's been against the sentiment of America on the Stimulus; the health care bill; and, now, on the Arizona immigration law. He consistently proves that he has no interest in fulfilling the concept of a government of the people.

Yes, Obama, before he got into office, was quite the salesman. He was going to be all things to all people. If you recall, he said: "There are not red states, nor blue states, just the United States". But, instead, he has become a purely partisan legislator who is not qualified to be President. He was going to "fundamentally change America" and the people who voted for him wrongly anticipated the change would be for the better; nothing could have been further from the truth.

So, this week, Obama became Willy Loman, and he may just have sealed his political fate. History may mark last week as the beginning of the political end for Obama. It might be seen as the figurative death of a salesman who had promised so much, but was totally incapable of delivering any of it.