Why Do People Hate Obama?

Every time I hear the President speak, I have one simple thought – why is there so much hate directed toward this man.

It can’t be his policies. Much of his proposals have enjoyed widespread bi-partisan support during previous administrations. Some of his policies are so conservative that he has been called a moderate or centrist Republican, and even compared to Nixon.

I don’t know what it is, but it boggles my mind. Do I agree with everything he says? Absolutely not! I don’t agree with some of the recent proposed regulations regarding mandated coverages by health care providers (though I do support his plans for reform overall). I am not sure I would have signed NDAA (though I understand he may have been pressured into that as it was “sidled” with important legislation), and I certainly wouldn’t have flip-flopped on SOPA – support, oppose, support again (his comments last night make me wonder).

Do I think he gave a perfect speech last night? Well, it was expertly delivered as usual, but its substance was not all good. The speech seemed to center on two themes – fairness and votes. On the one theme, he did very well – on the other, not so much.

Traditionally, the President uses the last address before an election as the unofficial kick-off of the campaign. I would have been surprised if this had been any different, but there was no mistake that this was indeed a campaign speech. One writer noted that it was a point by point refutation of Romney. The atmosphere of perpetual campaign in Washington bothers me a great deal. It’s okay with me if Obama plays along, but in my opinion he went overboard last night.

On the issue of fairness, I am with him.

The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive. No challenge is more urgent. No debate is more important. We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. What’s at stake are not Democratic values or Republican values, but American values. We have to reclaim them.

Is this class warfare? Perhaps it is, but who started it?

I think the key phrase in all of the speech for me was this one

and everyone plays by the same set of rules.

This is common ground! Republicans and Democrats claim to agree on this point and yet we have not made any progress toward better regulations and a simpler tax code. Last night, our President mentioned many new regulations and rules during his speech. I’ve read a lot of commentary today declaring how “not simple” this all is. I disagree. The number of rules doesn’t necessarily add complexity, provided the rules are all simple. I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of a negative income tax (as supported by Milton Friedman, not as proposed by Jimmy Carter). A simpler system would eliminate all of the programs, but it would still aid those in real need.

I know rules can be scary, but I agree with our President when he says this …

I’m confident a farmer can contain a milk spill without a federal agency looking over his shoulder. But I will not back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago.

I think I know what people really don’t like about him – they don’t believe him. I’d like to think that if you believe he was telling the truth last night about his intentions, that you would have to agree with most of what he said.

Frustrating to me, because I happen to think he is the most honest President we’ve had in years.

A few last things …

I agreed 100% with his comparison of our situation to the end of WWII. The government invested heavily in our country right after WWII and that was a big reason for our success. People like to remember it differently, but investing in each other was the catalyst for real recovery. We are in a similar situation now – we should respond similarly.

I also loved his “send me a bill” stuff. I’ll write more about that in my response to the GOP response.

I do not understand his emphasis on manufacturing. I think we may recover some because some manufacturing is best done here, but I don’t think we can compete with other countries for all the manufacturing jobs – and I don’t think we should.

I also did not like his comparison to the military at the end. I understand the sentiment, but comparing my life to the struggles of war is over the top. In my opinion.