It's the People, Stupid

The left, the right, the middle, even the far right these are false labels. Americans aren't that far apart. There's widespread agreement that Washington is broken, our government isn't working for us, for "we the people." We all want to fix D.C.; the differences come in how to do it.

President Obama is facing many difficult problems in our country. The polls have shown him plunging in popularity. He was elected in 2008 because of his promise of change, real change, change we can believe in. Facing the complexity of governing, apparently he has forgotten that promise.

Or perhaps he thought that promise meant bipartisanship, bringing the politicians in Washington together to change the country. Bipartisanship: that's what the pundits tell us we want. Forget congress for a minute: in his selection of advisors he brought together the same old crowd that has been running Washington. It looked like it could have been a Bush or Clinton administration . Or even a McCain administration. Where were the progressives, who were committed to change?

Change comes hard. You have to fight for it. You need a team of people who are committed to change rather than to themselves and their political careers. There are lots of intelligent people like that out in the country, people who worked for his campaign, people speaking out for different policies. You don't bring change by trying to bring the politicians together. This is like putting the cart before the horse. You bring change by bringing the change message to the people, inspiring them to support your vision and demand it of their representatives in Washington. He did this during the campaign and got the majority of the country behind him.

The result of his focus during these last two years has been a weak presidency and weak legislation. He's given neither side much to cheer about. Without an administration standing strong for change that really benefits the people, political opponents have been able to sway much of the country to their points of view, mostly points of view that benefit them and their friends. It's been business as usual, and that is losing, or has lost, the people who put this president into office.

Half measures are not enough at this critical time. We need courage, honesty, and determination that restore the hope for a better life for the people of this country and peace for the world. Will President Obama get the message and bring in a team of people who represent the kind of change we can believe in? There's a base of supporters out there waiting and waiting and waiting to help.