::::::::
Here is his list of answers to the title question:I'm happy with the job Obama and his team have done, not thrilled but a beginning.
Not happy. I don't want my health care tampered with.
Not happy. Obama and team sold us out. We need real reform-- single payer
Not happy. Obama's not being tough on GOP & Bluedogs, should pass current bill.
Obama's doing a great job.
I picked #1 on that list, even though I've been criticizing the President for his timidity ever since he took office, and feel both the House and Senate versions of the "Obamacare Bill" would be a step AWAY from true health care reform if passed. However, the events of the past couple of weeks have convinced me that the President is neither a sell-out nor a coward, but is trying to keep his campaign promises in the only way possible -- by giving the Neocons and the plutocrats backing them enough rope to hang themselves and then springing the trap at the 2010 elections.
It's obvious to me now that President Obama knew from the beginning of his term in office that he didn't have quite enough votes in Congress to railroad through meaningful reform legislation by "being tough on the GOP and Bluedogs". So he made an honest effort to negotiate with them and try to reach bipartisan compromises. They responded by forcing the Democrats to compromise the "Obamacare" Bill until it's not a reform at all, but more of a sugar-coated endorsement of the status quo. And when they won that unexpected 41st vote in the Senate, they responded by openly announcing that they are now going to block ALL reform legislation proposed by the Democrats.
So now the lines are drawn in the sand plainly enough that anyone whose mind is open even a crack can see them. The Democrats want significant changes made in our economic institutions with the government leading and controlling the process. The Republicans continue to claim that the "private sector" will restore prosperity if there is reduced government spending and regulation of the economy. The two biggest expenditures under the Obama Administration so far have been on the military to fight two wars it inherited from the Bush Administration, and on the bailouts of the financial industry which were actually planned in the GWB era as well. The Democrats have WANTED to spend significant amounts of government money to stimulate the economy in ways that benefit small businesses, increase domestic production of tangible goods and services, and create enough good new jobs to inspire consumer confidence, but the Republicans have blocked all these efforts. So as the 2010 elections approach, it becomes more and more obvious that unless the Democrats win a solid 60%+ majority in both houses of Congress, this "do nothing" status quo is going to continue for several more years.
So it looks to me like all the Democrats have to do at this point is ask every individual American voter, "Are you satisfied with your present economic situation and your prospects for the immediate future?" If the answer is less than an unqualified affirmative, then the next question is, "Which do you prefer, the Neocon Agenda which got us into this mess in the first place, or a return to the Keynesian economic policies that created unprecedented prosperity in this country from the end of WW2 until the last two or three decades?"
I have no idea if this strategy will work or not, but at least it makes a lot more sense than assuming that Obama and other Democratic leaders have sold out to the plutocrats or been intimided into inaction. There is finally an active battle going on over the real issues of government-led economic reform versus reliance on "Voodoo Economics" to solve the problems by magic. So I can definitely say, "I'm happy with the job Obama and his team have done, not thrilled but a beginning."
