Patience? What’s that???
Recently, Bloomberg News carried an article detailing American’s loss of confidence with Our president. They have lost faith in his handling of the economy, the Gulf oil spill, the healthcare woes, etc. What is striking in all these cases is the timing. The president hasn’t been in office a full year yet, and already fickle constituents who hailed him as a agent of change have lost patience, ready to drop support for him and his political party and fill political vacancies with supposedly conservative pundits railing against Obama’s policies and choices.
Hardly a year into office, hardly time to advance a political agenda, hardly time to settle in and address the political emergencies and nightmares that are handed off from presidential office holder to office holder. Why hardly a year? My own opinion is that American’s have gotten used to immediate gratification, and forgotten how to make hard sacrifices for future gains.
Many people also seem to have lost touch witness reality with respect to how hard it can be to be the major political leader of a huge organization. While it is claimed that they don’t directly blame Obama for the problems which started under Bush, they seem to think that these problems can be fixed with the snap of one’s fingers. Why does nobody acknowledge understanding that the problems inherited by one president from another cannot be solved by edict the moment one steps into office? These immediate issues have to take priority over the advancement of one’s agenda, and they cannot simply be wished away by the wave of one’s hands.
What’s happened to patience in America? I would argue that America’s become a nation of citizens who expect an Internet presidency: instant answers to all problems; instant gratification for all issues; instant connection to all issues; instant resolution. Economy in a pickle? Oil leak in the Gulf? Google the answer and implement immediately. No time for sacrifice, no time for fact gathering, no time for analysis. Simply Google for the answer, implement and done.
Internet complacency, lack of critical thinking, unrealistic expectations, and instant gratification have converged to make American’s less tolerant of things that, in the past, people would’ve understood can’t be solved in weeks or months.
But, that’s just my opinion.
Powered by FireStats
I read in one issue of ‘The Week’ that many in the US think that problems can be solved with the presidential seal like it’s a commandment from God or some such.
I think that America got too comfy with the idea of being the big I am and they’re not really grasping what it means to be such a large entity.
From an outsiders point of view I see America as more like the EU. Sure europe has an agenda and rules and a staggering amount of staff, money and power cliques but at the end of the day each constituent nation is looking after itself primarily and only really thinks about the overall entity in terms of “what can you do for me?”.
I guess it’s also a downside of patriotism. If you believe your country to be the greatest in the world then surely it’s leader must be godlike no?
One things for sure, even if Obama is the turning point on more issues than any previous president, he’ll still be the villain to some.
1Regarding the comment:
“I read in one issue of ‘The Week’ that many in the US think that problems can be solved with the presidential seal like it’s a commandment from God or some such.”
I’m not sure what to think of that one and I’m not sure where they pulled that observation from. My impression from our news media is that, while many are still happy, or proud, with his presidential achievement on a personal basis, they are disappointed with his economic and domestic policies. As with any president, but especially with regards to Democratic presidents, they complain vociferously that he is NOT keeping his promises made while on the campaign trails. People fail to take into consideration that the incoming president has to clean house first, so to speak, and clear off unfinished business left by the exiting incumbent before he can start worrying about IF he can even keep his promises. It is my opinion that Republicans leaving office leave nasty surprises and traps for incoming Democrats just to be spiteful. But, that’s just my opinion. And to top it off, there is way too much political machinations and intrigue for people to simply accept much less comply with ANY solution that has a presidential seal of approval on it. I would go so far as to say that anything solution offered like that will, in fact, have the opposite effect and will be fought against tooth and nail.
And comparing the US to the EU really is a disservice to the EU. My impression is that, at least in the EU, they have a more mature sense of social justice and might be more willing to work together. The states in the US are increasingly becoming more antagonistic towards the federal government as more religious right-wing extremists come into political power and are taking stances of “You can’t tell ME what to do!” And with people like Palin getting to be more popular, it’s driving the radical secessionists out of the woodworks, slavering into the media spotlight, thinking that they could do it better by themselves within their own little kingdoms, compounds, or enclaves, with a total lack of consideration for the population as a whole. This wild-west, no holds barred, only my way or else attitude has become so entrenched in the mindsets of a frightful number of Americans, it’s a wonder if the US doesn’t tear itself apart at the seams, like maggots devouring a corpse from the inside out that’s lying on the side of the highway of history, in the next few decades. And the Republicans won’t be happy until the population is nothing more than a mass of butchered consumers laying at the feet of their corporate empires with their life savings safely in the coffers of the 20% that own most of the world. But then again, that’s just my opinion.
2For some reason my RSS feed only just delivered this item to my attention. Darned technology! *shakes fist at ether*
Anyhow, I submit to you sir that you would struggle to find a period in history where the good ole US of A was not a fractal of religious nut jobs and loud mouths scaring the “normal” people into thinking that it’s all about to collapse. The thing is, they’re just loud… not popular… not powerful… just loud.
Oh and we’ve got soo many more terrorists and unions and splinter factions… you guys are just amateurs
3Well, you do have the Official Monster Raving Looney Party and the Raving Looney Green Giant Party so I can’t argue too much with that.
4There’s nowt wrong with raving loonies.
They came up with the idea of putting parliment on wheels and therefore holding government in a different city each week.
Many a true word spoken in jest?
The idea has merit if not in it’s current format.
5Well, a mobile parliament would provide everyone equal access to government representation.
6