OPINION:
I, like the majority of my fellow Americans, am not frustrated with the banks. Rather, I am frustrated and dismayed by a president whose rigid ideology and policies have prolonged and deepened the recession. President Obama is a man who refuses to accept any responsibility for his own actions.
The American people want jobs, and instead, the president offers little more than the hateful rhetoric of class warfare, blaming for our nation’s ills those who have worked hard and succeeded.
The American people want less government intrusion in our lives, and instead, Mr. Obama puts forward still more job-killing bills, rules and government regulations.
The American people want drastic cuts in government spending and a serious reduction in our national debt, and instead, the president proposes a tax increase - not to reduce the deficit - but to facilitate the continuation of the out-of-control spending orgy that has characterized his administration.
Mr. Obama seems unable to identify any areas of government waste where spending can be pared. I suggest that he look for savings in the following areas: “green” jobs, where his administration has recklessly blown away more than $500 million of taxpayer money; the Department of Justice, which paid $16 per muffin for a breakfast conference (they must have been hungry, and those must have been some big muffins); a second stimulus package masquerading as a jobs program; and the profligate spending of first lady Michelle Obama on her numerous worldwide, luxury junkets - paid for by American taxpayers.
I also am frustrated by Mr. Obama’s demonization of others in order to mask his own shortcomings and inept behavior. He blames the banks, Wall Street, the insurance companies, drug manufacturers, members of the National Rifle Association, Americans of religious faith, the Tea Party, Republicans, Congress, the Arab Spring, Europe and, of course, the George W. Bush administration, but never the budget-busting, job-killing policies of his own administration.
President Truman was credited with coining the phrase “The buck stops here.” The Obama administration will be best remembered for a president lacking in leadership, whose mantra has become “Pass the buck.” It is time for Mr. Obama to find the intestinal fortitude to accept responsibility for the abysmal failure of his policies and programs and the detrimental effect they have had on all the people of the United States.
WILLIAM G. FRENCH JR.
Fairfax
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