Obama: The Savior as Repairman

The higher you rise, the further you fall. It’s only been 12 months since the United States enthusiastically enthroned their new president. Now, he no longer enjoys the goodwill of the public. They’re longing for a messiah and have little understanding of the repairman’s accomplishments, even if he’s on the right track.

Despite the bitter cold, more than 2 million citizens came to Washington from across the nation to see the swearing in of America’s first African-American president. He enjoyed a nearly 70 percent approval rating; only 20 percent rejected him. Today those numbers stand at 48 and 45 percent, respectively. The magnitude of this decline may be seen currently in Massachusetts, where the campaign for the late Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat has suddenly developed into a free-for-all. The seat had been solidly in Democratic hands for decades. The Republicans have turned that election into a referendum on Obama’s policies, mainly his health care reform program. If the Democrats lose there on Tuesday, the thunderclap will symbolically reverberate across the country.

Where did all the resentment against Obama come from? The disillusionment had many sources, but, individually, none of them tells the whole story. The public is preoccupied with the effects of the economic crisis, especially double-digit unemployment figures. Pollsters freely admit Obama saved the nation from another Great Depression. At the same time, Republicans criticize health care reform as too expensive and verging too closely on governmental control. But all the alternatives have opponents, as well, and surveys show a slight majority favors Obama’s plan. The attempted attack on the Detroit flight revealed U.S. vulnerability and made Obama look weak, even though no Americans were hurt in the failed attempt.

No, Obama’s actions and his scorecard aren’t the reasons for his decline in the popularity polls. The man, whom some elevated to near-messianic status and others derided as all talk and no action, has proven to be a dependable repairman, working to fix the government. Sure, he’s made mistakes: He’s had to withdraw nominees for cabinet positions, and he underestimated the strength of the conservative protest movement, reacting to it too late. He hesitated too long in reacting to the failed airliner attack. But all in all, he’s a better manager than Bill Clinton, and he shows better judgment than George W. Bush. Aid to Haiti has, so far, run quickly and smoothly, especially when compared to Bush’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The attack on the airliner showed that Obama had long since recognized the dangers from Yemen and had taken measures against them. He tamed the economic crisis and is now in the process of getting the banks to repay their government loans. If he is successful in getting health care reform through and gets a handle on America’s burgeoning debt, he will have achieved historic success.

Obama’s drop in the polls can be explained, mainly, by Americans who suffer under their own political system and their broad dislike of those “inside the Beltway.” Many citizens have an idealistic picture of what politicians should be able to accomplish and have no stomach for the ugliness inherent in day-to-day party politics. Obama’s numbers may be down, but Republicans haven’t gained much by opposing him. If a few Republicans are successful at the polls in the coming days, they can’t claim it was because of their own strengths. Their victories will be due, instead, to voter disappointment. Americans are always looking for super-human saviors, whether to help Haiti or to rescue America.