Change That We Can See

In my last post I talked about Obama being able to fulfill his promises, and I made a reference to political analysts who said he was making changes but nothing that the American people could see. I agree that the theatrics of our political system is just as important as making actual progress at fixing its decaying infrastructure, but I think half of the problem with people who "can't see" the changes Obama is making is that they aren't looking hard enough. One example of this is Obama's brand new appointee as leader of FEMA. We all remember how FEMA dropped the ball during Katrina, and rather than letting it happen again Obama has elected the head of disaster response in Florida Craig Fugate, who has coordinated successful responses to 11 disasters during his time in Florida. Experts on both ends of the political spectrum are saying that Fugate is more than qualified for the job and is ready to overhaul the entire organization and create more efficient and timely response to disasters. Fugate is used to spending time in the public eye after dealing with hurricanes Charley, Francis, Ivan, and Jeanne. Obama also recognized the significance of this appointment saying, "I'm confident that Craig is the right person for the job and will ensure that the failures of the past are never repeated."

Ok, so now our country is on its way to being protected against another natural disaster. Thats amazing progress, but we still have no money! Our debt is in the trillions and our economy is in the toilet, what in the world is Obama doing to fix that? Well, Obama signed a memorandum today that saves the federal government $40 billion a year. In the big picture, surprisingly enough $40 billion really isn't that much, but its a step in the right direction and if reforms like this continue we could maybe start to work our way out of debt. The $40 billion came from what Obama referred to as the "broken system of government contracting." On top of this, Obama said it was time for us to turn the tide on an era of fiscal irresponsibility so that we can sustain our recovery and not leave the next generation (aka: me) a mound of debt. I also made a reference to a budget that Obama was presenting last thursday, in which he outlined $2 trillion in deficit reduction. He said all the money that they're saving is due to reform in the way that government does business and also due to the help of a little gecko who knows a lot about car insurance. Government spending on contracts has doubled over the last 8 years (coincidence? i think not) to over half a trillion dollars, and Obama pointed to defense spending but still made it clear he wanted to keep the American people safe. "...But I reject false choice," said Obama, "between securing this nation and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. And in this time of great challenges, I recognize the real choice between investments that are designed to keep the American people safe and those that are designed to make a defense contractor rich." I think no matter who you voted for, its refreshing to hear any sort of politician speaking with that much honesty and accountability.

For the sake of blogging integrity though I must explore an article that does not necessarily line up with my beliefs. CNN's Jack Cafferty wrote an article insinuating that Obama was in fact at fault for our continuing economic turmoil. Ok, I read the article. I tried really hard to believe it, and to understand his point of view, but to me it didn't really add up. Cafferty said that Obama was "running out of people to blame" since the market has dropped 25% since he took office. I find that a little hard to swallow, seeing as this administration has inherited all of the problems of the Bush administration and has not only hit the ground running in an attempt to save our sinking ship but at the same time has had to deal with all the responsibilities that come along with being a newly appointed president. Cafferty went on to accuse Obama of slowing, if not stopping, what would normally have been a normal economic slump and recovery by being hard on big business and "squandering resources." Excuse me? I find it hard to believe that banks go belly-up in a normal economic cycle, and that shady deals in big business prior to this had nothing to do with the economy falling apart. I also find it hard to believe that Obama is "squandering" anything as he has been recovering the losses of the previous administration from day 1. If the republicans had their way, Obama would be blamed for the economic mess, widespread unemployment, the housing crisis, and for being the one who told Chris Brown to beat Rihanna. The economic crisis didn't happen in a month and it won't get fixed in one either, squabbling over who is to blame is a trend that I hope this country leaves behind during this administration. Who or what caused it is not the problem, Obama is working to fix it and that is all that matters