The Obama Dream Turns into Nightmare

Although still mesmerized by the “Yes We Can” fantasy that Barack Obama promised them, Americans are slowly waking up to the harsh reality that they hoped would end with George W. Bush’s administration. They are waking up in a country where nothing changes for the better and where there are no signs that things can change. Obviously, contributing factors to this rude awakening are the rising unemployment rates and the increasing number of houses that are repossessed by the banks because of unpaid mortgages, all of which felt like a slap in the face to the American people. Perhaps just a few were naïve enough to believe that the situation could improve after only one year.

Americans were not expecting magic tricks — they only needed Obama to convince them that he could be the catalyst for “change.” Instead, the current president ended up leading a country where reforms get “stuck” in protracted partisan disputes and where the official agenda is disengaged from the citizens’ pressing needs. Not much has changed since the previous administration. During the last few years of Bush’s mandate, people had stopped waiting for the president to understand their needs. His obsessions revolved around the global anti-rocket shield, destroying al-Qaida terrorists and spreading democracy through “orange revolutions” (in Eastern Europe) or bombs (in Iraq and Afghanistan).

At the moment, although die-hard Democrats refuse to accept it, more and more Americans feel that their problems are not addressed by the healthcare reform or by Obama’s war (which has not included any concrete measures so far) against the “fat cats” on top of the financial system or against lobbyists, some of whom have actually made their way into his administration. The American people are even less interested in the U.S.’s involvement in the fight against global warming. Global warming ideology places a hypothetical “blame” on carbon dioxide, while the cap and trade system manages to create a global speculative market for trading emission permits between states or companies.

What bothers Americans most is the lack of direction for the economy, a fact confirmed by the United States Senate special election held in Massachusetts. A recent survey (Rasmussen Poll) shows that 72 percent of the people living in Massachusetts, therefore including those who voted for “playboy senator” Scott Brown, actually like Obama. However, 54 percent think that the country is headed in the wrong direction and another 10 percent are not sure what to answer. According to another survey (CNN), 48 percent of Americans think that the Democratic majority in Congress is a “bad” thing, while 45 percent think it is a “good” thing. This does not mean that the Republicans score better. The two parties score equally in terms of public opinion, even when 48 percent of respondents claim they are dissatisfied with both organizations.

That the Democrats no longer enjoy public confidence and even run the risk of losing the Illinois Senate seat (which is Obama’s old seat) should not cause the Republicans to jump for joy. The president, however, has every reason to worry. He is the one who is held accountable, and Americans disagree with the track he has chosen. For an increasing number of citizens, the average duration of being unemployed — 29.1 weeks — is turning into a nightmare. They expect Obama — the man who needed a scholarship and whose family used food stamps — to understand that the things that matter most to them are in fact the immediate priorities of America.