We Picked A Leader – But Where Are The Followers?

By James Donahue

A few years ago, as America was plunging deeper into deficit, its schools and infrastructure into disrepair, and our standing in the world was tarnished from the destructive acts of former President George W. Bush and his cronies in Washington, we published a desperate call for leadership capable of pulling us out of the shambles once Bush left office.

Amazingly, such a leader emerged from the many candidates that sought the presidential office in 2008, and we believe voters picked the very best of the lot to take the reins. President Barack Obama offered a fresh new approach to government, he clearly had the charisma to excite the attention of the world, he offered a ray of hope that something could, indeed, be salvaged out of the old America that we were before Bush.

Unfortunately, President Obama’s presidency was cleverly sabotaged by the outgoing Republican administration, the big banking, insurance and real estate money brokers, the military industrial complex that still wanted wars, and a pack of old guard Republicans in both the House and Senate that stood determined not to follow.

Consequently Mr. Obama, perhaps the brightest and best potential for true leadership this country could muster for the office, found himself saddled with an unprecedented deficit, a collapsing economy and deep recession that was leaving millions of Americans not only out of work but losing their homes and living in the street, and a nation fighting two Middle Eastern wars.

Worse than that, a large segment of the elected members of the House and Senate refused to follow Mr. Obama’s leadership. The Republican minority in the Senate has used the threat of filibuster to successfully block nearly every act of legislation approved by the Congress, thus holding back key legislation designed to set the nation on a new course toward saving itself from total collapse.

Until last week, when the media finally called them on it, the Republican Senate successfully blocked most of the Obama appointments to key cabinet, judicial and committee positions needed to make his administration function smoothly. And it has been a year now since he took office.

Not only that, the Supreme Court recently got involved in the sabotage by voting 5-4 to allow big corporations the right to contribute unlimited sums of money in support of campaigns of candidates of their choice. Everybody knows the Republicans represent big business interests while Democrats are a party for the people.

Now we have an even larger crisis looming in the United States. We have a bright, charismatic leader in office with good ideas that a majority of Americans want and support. But we have two other branches of government that are pulling strings to make sure the Obama programs never get off the ground.

If Mr. Obama and the supporting Democrats in Washington don’t calculate a way around all of these roadblocks within the next few months, it may be too late to accomplish much change in the direction this nation is crumbling. Many House and Senate seats are up for grabs in elections later this year, and with big money interests packed behind the Republican campaigns, confused voters may easily be persuaded to repack both houses with more sold-out people favoring big business interests.

How much can an exceptional general accomplish if his soldiers refuse to follow him into battle?