by Erica Michaelson

Created on: November 03, 2009   Last Updated: December 06, 2009

Are Americans lowering their expectations of President Obama?

It has been almost a year since Barack Obama was sworn in as office President of the United States. Is President Obama delivering the change he promised, or is his performance just more of the same old thing, just a different color?

I did not vote for Barack Obama, I was afraid to. I was troubled by his lack of experience. With only two years as my Senator, most of which he spent time campaigning for President.

With a sometimes incoherent and changing message out of his campaign, I had serious concerns regarding his judgement or lacl thereof. I questioned if he had the ability to make the right decision at the right time. I was afraid he would be someone that wanted to check the pulse of the polls, before implementing action, only to flip-flop after the political winds change. His current dithering about the troop levels in Afghanistan has confirmed my fears.

The people that he surrounded himself with concerned me. The relationship with Reverend Wright bothered me, along with the notion that after a twenty year with what he calls a his spiritual leader, he was not aware of this mans racists views and anti-American point of view. With some of the cabinet members he has chosen and an unprecedented amount of czars he has appointed, this has confirmed my fears.

It was alarming to me when he told Joe the plumber, that we need to spread the wealth. I was always proud of this countries ability enable her people to make the best of themselves, and flourish on merit and hard work. The billions that went to the TARP bill which produced very little if any help toward employment has confirmed those fears.

President Obama told people on election night in Chicago, that he wanted to fundamentally change America. I was afraid that he would bypass the constitution in the process. All those that celebrated your historic and momentous election, as President of the United States, did they really understand that would mean a 2000 page health care reform bill, that people would not even be able to read?

When he ran for President here is what he promised :

A new era in America that included a vision of

Reduced spending

Government transparency and

No health insurance mandate

Those were the promises of change. Are Americans lowering expectations? With tea parties, a polarized electorate, and an ever growing federal government, I think Americans are raising expectations.

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