Referendum on Obama

No Mr. President, it's we who should be angry with you. We are all Americans, we are not each others enemies.

Let me be clear, this election is a referendum on the Presidency of Barack Obama. From the Hill, Looming anti-Obama mid-term vote may not carry through to 2012:

Seventy percent of respondents in The Hill’s latest survey of 10 battleground districts said their feelings about President Obama will play an important role in how they vote on Nov. 2.

From The Economist, Obama and the Mid-Terms, How did it come to this?

At his swearing-in in 2009, the Democrats enjoyed comfortable majorities in the House and the Senate and Mr Obama himself basked in a worldwide sunshower of goodwill. Pundits started to wonder whether the defeated Republicans had been smashed for a generation. How is it possible, just 21 months later, that the Democrats are expecting a thrashing next week and the Republicans look poised to take control of the House of Representatives, and maybe even the Senate?

Both linked articles say that the public blames him for moving too far to the left on health care, especially, and ignoring the economy. He's reputedly a smart guy, so why did he ignore the economy and focus on health care? Because he is ultimately ideologically driven in a way that is incompatible with a free market. This has led him to make policy errors that the public understands. I believe that the internet has allowed understanding of free market economics to spread in the public. The same anger that gave rise to the nascent Tea Party even before George Bush had left office is now channeled at Obama's policies. It has nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with policies that are antithetical to American traditions of free markets and Obama's ignorance of basic economic principles. (The link is to a nice history of the origins of the Tea Party movement in today's WSJ. I would love to hear what Dawn, Leslie or Sarah think.)

People knew instinctively that politics as usual had failed them when they elected Barack Obama in 2008. The Republicans had cast away all principle and the Democrats were already starting to ratchet up the spending through their control of the Congress. Obama promised tax cuts and a change to the culture of corruption of Washington DC. Instead he delivered more deficit spending, which the public understands will mean tax hikes down the road. He also delivered a health care bill characterized by give-aways to special interests, corrupt back room deals and soaring insurance costs for the average American. He demonstrated that he cared not one whit about their concerns which center around getting the economy, so that people can go back to work and small businesses can make a profit. For these reasons, I propose voting Republican, for the most part (not you Abel Maldonado), to send a stinging rebuke to a President who failed to deliver on his promises and a Congress that also violated its promises concerning ethics and deficits.