The Honeymoon is Over

President Obama has a tough job. Being the leader of the free world may come with some cool perks, but nobody wants his job at this moment. Maybe not even him.

To deal with our economic crisis the president has pushed bailout payments and guarantees that exceed $9 trillion. With interest expense on the debt, we basically spent our entire GDP in 12 months. Not good. Especially since we haven't seen much benefit from it. Unemployment is still over 10%, the auto companies still suck, the banks still aren't lending, and housing prices continue to fall.

Foreign affairs aren't much better. Although Iraq seems to have calmed down lately, Iran is shooting protesters in the streets while North Korea is testing nukes and missiles. It seems that our plan to "extend an open hand" has been poorly received. In fact, foreign leaders seem to be pushing the limits, almost daring the president Obama to do something.

An now the president wants to reform health care. He warns that the system is broken and in a state of emergency. But spending yet another $1 trillion doesn't seem like such a good idea to a public tired of government spending that seems to produce few results. And we surely don't want to see tax increases for the middle class to pay for this reform. What happened to the campaign promise of cutting taxes for 95% of us?!

The media may still be in awe of their liberal hero, but the rest of us are looking for results. We need a plan to deal with our huge new national debt. We need to know what the plan is for rogue nuclear countries like North Korea and Iran. We need the government spending to stop. We need, dare I say, "change we can believe in." I wonder what the votes would be today if they were to be re-cast?