WASHINGTON, DC – Several recent surveys show that the great majority of Americans are unhappy about the state of the Union. And, another poll conducted by Quinnipiac University shows that only 2 percent say they trust the government.
Meanwhile, Gallup reports that only about 28 percent of us are satisfied with the way things are going in the country while Rasmussen puts the satisfaction level at 29 percent.
And, with only a few weeks left until the 2016 Presidential Election, “It’s a pretty sad state of affairs any way you look at it,” says Dan Weber, president of the Association of Mature American Citizens. “Older Americans, in particular, seem to be off put by the lagging economy, particularly since the Federal Reserve has seen fit to suppress interest rates, which means a smaller return on their savings. The over-50 set is also concerned with the fate of Social Security, which the government seems to think is some sort of entitlement program akin to Welfare but which is an investment workers make with their own hard-earned dollars.”
Weber points out that the Great Recession began at just about the same time that President Obama took office. “He doesn’t assume responsibility for the recession but he does take credit for masterminding a so-called Great Recovery. He says he’s created a record number of new jobs and that he has dramatically reduced unemployment to about 5 percent. In fact, if you ask the experts, they will tell you that real unemployment is still at nearly 10 percent since record numbers of workers have given up on getting a job anytime soon. And among those that have gotten jobs, most have been forced to accept part-time jobs that pay barely enough to keep body and soul together.”
But, he says, there is much more to the “gloomy” statistics. Weber points to the failure of Obamacare to contain costs and, thus, has resulted in double-digit rate premium increases for those covered under the Affordable Care Act. Even former president Bill Clinton, who is ostensibly an Obama supporter, recently criticized Obamacare for being too expensive. And, Paul Krugman, a New York Times columnist who has defended the ACA in the past said that “we are possibly seeing it start to unravel, not in all of the country, but at least in parts of the country.”
There’s also the matter of national security. As Michael E. O’Hanlon, Senior Fellow at the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence put it: “by the standards he has set out for himself, President Barack Obama’s foreign policy has fallen considerably short of expectations and aspirations.” O’Hanlon concluded in an article he wrote for the Brookings Institution that the president “put his own pursuit of a historical legacy ahead of the nation’s security needs.”
Weber says that this year’s presidential candidates need to give serious thought to the path that President Obama has chosen for the nation. “We need to find a better route to the future; we cannot afford to finance the status quo. The next president may have to forego politics in favor of practical, down to earth solutions. America needs to learn how to live within its means. And, we need to get our priorities straight.”
