And that support is critical; as his administration gears up for the 2012 elections it needs to carefully gauge the mood of his support groups. He currently has Democrats from every sector of the party extremely angry and upset after they learned that he was offering serious cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as a part of a "grand bargain" with the Republicans.
If he continues in that direction the American people will consider it to be a betrayal of their interests and he will find that he can kiss his second term goodbye. As numerous progressive writers are warning, it's not that many of his now disillusioned supporters will vote Republican but, rather, that they will simply sit out the election.
Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, who is, in my opinion, is the best, the most honest and most patriotic senator in Congress, has clearly indicated that if the president dares to offer up cuts to these major entitlements, he will not support him and he will, in fact, filibuster any legislation that includes them. How wonderful would that be? An Independent senator turning the tables on the Republicans by using their favorite tool of obstruction against them; and also against this president if he will not honor the views of the vast majority of Americans.
For those who consider my criticisms of Mr. Obama to be too harsh because he still may alter his position on these entitlements and that he will not, once again, cave in to Republicans, here's my reply. The biggest mistake he is making is that, given the massive opposition that he is getting from the GOP, he is not taking his case directly to the American people. They are getting more and more confused and frustrated by his failure to connect with them.
I'm talking about the fact that he is not using the presidential "bully pulpit" that U.S. presidents such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson used so successfully in the past; they used it very extensively to clearly communicate their policies and strategies to the American people to get their support; and it worked. President Obama should have been using this great communication tool consistently since he took office and, most certainly, should be using it in this current crisis.
He should be telling the American people that he will protect these important entitlements and that he will stand his ground. If he had called on them to personally support him in the effort weeks or months ago, how very different this situation would be. Poll after poll would indicate that the vast majority of the people overwhelmingly supported him; the national media would have no choice but to give it great coverage and the Republican Party would be on the run.
But that's not happening. He doesn't seem to understand the immense power of the bully pulpit or he doesn't care. But by not connecting with the people this president is making a grievous mistake. He keeps playing defense when he should be playing offense; he is allowing the Republicans to frame the issues and to control the agenda. This is not he way you win, it is a sure way to lose; and if he fails to stand up for what is right in this battle, the big losers are going to be the American people.
By his failures to include the massive costs of maintaining the military empire and fueling several wars in the deficit reduction sessions, he is greatly endangering the stability of American going into the future. As respected economists have stated numerous times, no major industrial nation can maintain its financial stability while, at the same time, it is spending monumental amounts of its wealth on continuing wars.
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