Primary Shaping Up, Election Showing Clear Signs.

By Isis Win

We are into the fourth year of one of the most difficult times in history of the USA and the American people. The impact of a failing economic system threatened by a crumbling banking and mortgage industry, the largest deficit in history, unparalleled levels of unemployment and sub-employment, and two wars that, although delivering some desired results, in more items failed the “strategy” to address the real issues that prompted them and have created the largest division between American people. For the sake of truth, the start of this tough times are not correlated with the actual regime of Democrat President Barrack Obama. These issues are the result of the previous administration that failed to act timely, to develop infallible strategies, acted impulsively, denied losing ground on any of those issues and lied to the American people from the very start.

Considering that in the political world all sorts of manipulations and lies can take place, it has been extremely difficult to most Americans to arrive to a consensus that could lead to an absolute resolution than will straighten our path. On the contrary, we are more divided than in any other period of the American history and the Republican Party no longer is what our ancestors experienced.
The party became fragmented much before the elections of 2008. During the two regimes of the Bush – Cheney administration, the party failed to address all of the above issues as they were happening. This previous administration achieved the heaviest and strongest power an American regime ever had. Democrats could only challenge Republicans in the arena of debate but in the long run, the administration always presented a “reality” based on their “facts”. Facts that time has shown many important speeches from Bush, were fully false and deceiving. But do not ask a Republican if the previous administration failed at large. They will blame Democrats for any and every single mistake that took place during those 8 years and now. But the facts don’t lie and today, we all are facing the disastrous results of the lies and mistakes that only benefited some of the largest corporations in the country. But the American people still are at bay and hoping that this coming regime will save us from this long agony, something that the Republican primary front-runners have been exploiting to their “advantage”, blaming Obama and his party for the actual reality we face today.

In 2009, Obama’s place was to fix all the inherited problems to prove that he is the rightful person to lead the nation. However, although those problems mentioned above didn’t collapse into further disaster. These problems prevail, something that was expected from academics and analysts because the severity of the simultaneous conflicts. But as well, Obama’s initiative to address one of the most important issues of the country, an issue that has not been addressed for decades, an issue even when Republicans and Democrats put all their eggs in the nest at some point, never happened: The Health Care issue. Obama’s bill has been heavily criticized by the Republicans as a failed and insolvent program to address this toxic situation and has been taken into the public opinion arena – as a sign of failure of his administration. However, the irony of this case is that several of measures included in this bill, are the exact measures that many Republicans presented (including McCain and Romney), supported and advocated in favor of for the last two decades. Yet Obama’s compromise is used today by Republicans as an example of an eroding aspect of the American future.

It takes no effort to look back into our recent years of political and government history. The evidence never disappeared from the popular view but Republicans filtered these facts and pointed them against Obama. Obama’s mistakes. Nevertheless, they override the undeniable facts such as: The attack to the Trade Center. It was a failure of the Bush administration to recognize any possible validity of this attack and they let it happen. As well, the warnings about the invasion of Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein in a pre-emptive way. Also, the failed policies to return Iraq post-invasion to normalcy by integrating most of what could be, in a heavily and historically ethnically divided nation. That, instead of integrating a nation with centennial history of division, has taken place with uncanny violence against each other. As a consequence, many of those Arab enemies are our enemies now. Today, Iraq has a weak and unprepared army (when it was the strongest in the region) that the US has been training to bring up to speed and will continue doing so for decades to come. It takes decades to train an efficient army. Another undeniable fact is that Bush assured the American people Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction when the UN repetitively said the contrary, that Hussein had close ties with Al-Qaeda and as well said “the invasion would be short-lived and presents no threat or real loses for the American military power”. Five thousand deaths later, a massive cost, and Iraq still is in shambles, we have the real facts on sight.  We know the truth. Just about any Iraqi says they were better off when Hussein was in power. If these facts don’t suffice to account for the failed and fallacious previous administration, the one responsible for the problems we face today, then there is no argument to figure why we are where we are. However, Republicans blame Obama for these problems. But in reality this is an eloquent statement about a divided, biased and arbitrary way of looking our old and known America.  The America that no longer is as remembered before the start of the 21st century. We need to get back to that America for the sake of our future generations.

Not everything is Bush’s fault. On top of the list are: The American people who didn’t question any of those facts as they were happening. The legislative body that failed to obligate the administration, based on the exercise of their – democratically provided – power to demand the evidence and written plan of action. The US armed forces and all politicians that spoke on behalf of the Bush administration failed too. An interesting fact is that among  the top of that list is Sara Palin, that divided many folds more the American people with her biased, uneducated, angry, hostile and extremist “political” rhetoric. The very reason Republicans lost the election. Instead, they gave room to Democrat Obama whose rhetoric was based on providing for the middle class people and taking away power from the corporations that as well, are responsible for the actual status of our nation. It is true, unemployment is rampant because the mortgage failure, but we can’t ignore the fact that millions of jobs moved overseas due to cheap out-sourcing. Those jobs were already missing when we needed them so badly and this displaced a work force that never got the proper training to take high-tech jobs, as Reagan suggested would be the case. Although the Tea Party was born as an alternative movement to the Republicans whose party looks nothing moderate, because of its ambition to seize power, in reality it did more damage to the far right and to the country, than a conscious political benefit to the nation. A clear manifestation that the American people are not happy anymore by being neglected for a long time, left and right Americans are exactly in the same place, and share a place in the same boat.

Today, the American panorama is one of the saddest in American history. Republicans and Democrats fail to join efforts to overcome the shortcomings of a global financial problem, the environmental threat of global warming and ozone depletion, the energy crisis that somehow “disappeared” <due to blindness> right after the oil crisis of the early 70s, our failing educational problem that places us in 20th place ranking world wise in the 2009 Human Development Report – 13th according to the Education Policy Institute (and never even among the top ten any other ranking organization), threatens our fragile safety at home and abroad by terrorists, as well the massive abuses of large corporations that get away with murder and at the cost of tax dollars, the lack of confidence in the American people and the weakening of an economy that still provides the tax cuts from the previous administration. Tax cuts that were put in place when the cost of all our initiatives far exceed our gross product. Isn’t this some kind bribe from our Republican government that blinded us from the truths of what we were getting into? But we “can” blame Obama for all that, as if doing so will fix any of the above problems.

Republicans insist they are the only ones able to address and fix the country. But they throw dirt on each other and accuse each other of unprepared, inexperienced,  unpatriotic and plainly ambitious for the sake of personal benefit and ego trips.

If you take just a quick glance at Wikipedia and their description of the Great Depression, you will find that the solutions to our failed economy of today, compared to those times (massive lay offs and the failure of many banks if not most), are ahead of schedule and we are on the right track. During the next four years we will witness the benefits of this administration initiatives and all of the above will drastically improve regardless of who is in power, but only if the issues that triggered our actual situation never happen again. Romney has clearly shown lacking of any vision and experience to manage this, but his word. He never presented any evidence to the case even when challenged by his own peers. Recently Gingrich accused him of “being a liar”.  Gingrich was asked two or three times the same question and he asserted it. The next presidential period will demand leaving politics behind – to address, really address – what is needed to get back into our pre-21st century status. None of the primaries’ front-runners offer what it takes to do so. Perhaps Obama doesn’t either, but it is a fact that Obama is several folds more promising that ALL the Republicans together. In other words, the upcoming election has been already decided because the American people do not suck their thumb anymore. The American people are fed up with this vitriolic situation created by the Republicans. That is something that the Republicans can be blamed for and they should take responsibility for it. This past year has been clear enough to represent the poor status of the American politics and this effort has been lead by the Republicans and just because they seek to seize power at any cost. But if I am wrong, what a serious situation we will face if the White House lands on the hands of Mitt Romney. Through all my years witnessing politics and all I’ve extensively read, Romney most champions the realm of “out of touch” among all politicians ever in the US landscape. His image, to anyone who is capable of seeing the truth, is nothing less than the same image of several presidential runners that African countries had! Countries that crumbled by a poor notion of patriotism, lack of experience, and vision, with corruption and a lack of a political view that was necessary in their countries. Today, they are worse than ever in their history. Are we heading that way? Lead by deceit, lies, coercion and a promise of a place that will take years to recover?

Although all mentioned is important, what is on top of all, is the sole fact that when we think and talk about the American people, American people means every single law-abiding American. Ethnic groups, sexual and gender orientation, gender, education, financial and social status should not bear any importance when we consider the country. After all, we all are Americans and although our personal well-being matters to most of us first, our well-being depends greatly on the well-being of the nation. For as long as we are divided, we are no longer civilized, and progress only will be a view in a desert that no one habitats, Just like the different Arab ethnic groups that are destroying each other and their countries, as Iraq and the other nations facing social revolutions are. This is what the previous administration left us behind. Division, division, division! Division in Iraq, division in the Arab world, division in American politics and division among us. It is time to truly listen to Obama and make a true and solid effort to conciliate our bi-partisan differences, regardless of anything. What is at stake is our entire nation, and I hope that no one is unable to see that today, the world and our nation is in a fragile state. At some point, hopefully before tragedy strikes again, we will be together so we can become the heroes that have made this is a wonderful nation: the most democratic, healthiest, smartest, richest and most powerful one in our entire world’s history. We are not ready to give up that place yet. This is not the best possible time for it but more importantly: There is no other country prepared to take that place.