Appeals Alone Are Not Sufficient

When Barack Obama took office five years ago, he wanted to reconcile, not disrupt. The majority of Americans were tired of George W. Bush’s narcissistic and uncompromising politics. So they voted for a man who promised to do everything differently. Bush’s successor actually tried to utilize compromise as a political instrument during his first two years in office. This, however, failed completely and was, in hindsight, a serious mistake. If Obama had acted more courageously in 2009 and 2010, when his Democrats had the majority in both the House and Senate, America would be better off right now.

Indeed, Obama continues to evoke the dream of a better future. But the fact is that every U.S. president does this, and you still need the people to believe that this dream can come true. Obama did little to nothing in his speech for these dreamers. His ideas are still huge, but unfortunately he did not explain how to turn them into reality.

It won’t be enough to merely appeal to the Republicans. Since 2010, they have demonstrated several times that they are not the least interested in easing Obama’s burden with regard to the welfare of all Americans. They will continue on this path until one of them finally takes a seat again within the White House.