A Nation in Decline

With great hope, considerable enthusiasm, and dire need for changes, President Obama was inaugurated in January 2009 at which time the "official" [read understated] U.S. unemployment rate was 7.6% (http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2009/feb/wk2/art02.htm). After almost 2 years in office, the hope has vanished, the enthusiasm dissipated, and the need for change is even more dire. The November 2010 unemployment rate has risen to an intolerable and unconscionable 9.8%, increasing .2% since October 2010 and all signs indicate that the American economy is stuck idling in neutral while the president has become remote, disengaged, and, according to some reports, unhappy with his position. He should realize that his former supporters are disenchanted, disappointed, and unhappy with his performance, or lack thereof.

Obama has failed to deliver on almost all of his campaign promises and has gone from being the omnipresent face in the media to perfunctorily continuing the George W. Bush agenda. His failure to deliver even marginal improvement in the American Main Street economy is a betrayal worthy of former Vice President Cheney. Worse yet, America is in steep decline. With de facto unemployment near 20% and in deeper that imaginable debt, America is spiraling downward like detritus in a flushed toilet. And he who promised to rescue this nation after eight long years of Bush destruction is in a snit because the job isn't as he imagined. Worse yet, the alternatives are unacceptable and we have two more years of gridlock, stagnation, decline, and lack of leadership before the next election.

The two-party system has failed to provide a check and balance to incompetence and petulant behavior and a third alternative is now essential. This nation is in serious decline and is heading towards a metaphorical waterfall without a competent and engaged captain to steer it to safety. God help America because no one else in government either has the will or the wherewithal to do so.