How real was Obama’s lifeline?

“Hope and change” went the rallying cry of the Obama presidential campaign. It was fervently proclaimed, and thoroughly disseminated. It was catchy, and it won Obama the presidency.

Yet I remember thinking at the time, “Waydaminit.” Change — change by itself — isn’t necessarily an improvement. Change may be for the worse. And hope? If it cannot bring about its own fulfillment, hope is misleading, hallucinatory, false.”

In 2008, the American people were desperate — in no mood to split a good political slogan with a fine philosophical knife. We were mired in two wars, stuck in financial quicksand, and we simply wanted out. Change of any kind seemed preferable to the morass we were in. Enter Barack Obama, who threw us a lifeline.

I ask you now: How real was that lifeline? Unemployment is up, growth is nil, home values have sunk deeper still, the dollar is weak, food and gas prices have risen, and the federal debt has nearly doubled.

When asked to explain this ... change ... in national circumstances, the president says, “Well, if it hadn’t been for me, things would have been far worse. The Japanese tsunami, the euro zone bailouts, the Arab insurrections, Hurricane Irene, floods, wildfires and an earthquake — all of these tea party machinations have conspired to delay the good effects of my agenda. Wait and see. The best is yet to come.”

I submit to you that the worst, unfortunately, isn’t over. Obama’s lifeline was a rhetorical one, a nice-sounding chant that lulled the American public to sleep. In three years, Obama has been transformed from a messianic figure to a flappy-eared caricature of his own making.

Alexander Lee

West Chicago