The bullies are more empowered than ever and more vicious than ever too

editorial cartoons via TPC

I could not be more disillusioned right now. The great hope I had for this President's success is slowly dying and in its place is a terrible foreboding. When I voted for this president, I was voting for the vision he had for this country, a vision he so masterfully articulated and sold me on. I did NOT vote for four more years of the bullying and divisive policies of the Bush/Cheney administration. And yet, that is now what I feel I am getting.

And I know without a scintilla of doubt that I am not alone in feeling this way.

With that said, NEVER EVER in a million years did I think that by voting for Mr. Obama that I would be voting for a man that would not only empower the bullies who pushed us around for the eight nightmare years of the Bush/Cheney presidency, but one that would actually throw fuel on their fire. By continually reaching out to these Republican bullies only to get bit in return, President Obama now looks weak and ineffective, and the bipartisanship he was striving for, a game for wussies. And there is no bigger aphrodisiac for these thugs than weakness. And my President has served it to these bullies on the White House's finest china.

Where on earth is the fire and the amazing energy that defined the candidate Obama and inspired so many to vote for him? Does he think he can glide through four years as a behind-the-scenes president without fighting for the very issues he campaigned on? Where are those amazing oratorical skills now that he is in office? Where is the man who on the night he accepted the Democratic nomination to be president said this:

This moment — this election — is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look just like the last eight. On Nov. 4, we must stand up and say: “Eight is enough.”

This country voted for Mr. Obama because it agreed with him. It agreed that eight long years was not just enough, but an eternity. And it felt like Obama the candidate was completely in sync with us on that. It felt like he felt our pain.

So why does it feel like it is the Republicans in charge? And why is it the Republicans who have hijacked the national conversation, held all of the President's policies hostage, and succeeded in sabotaging and obstructing everything? And why does it feel like the bullying has not gone away but intensified? Well the answer is because they can and Obama has made it oh so easy for them.

Apparently it hasn't occurred to this President that these thugs want nothing more than to destroy him. And from where I stand, they are succeeding. They have made the President look weak and ineffective. They have helped the President completely alienate the people who put him into office. And those Independents who abandoned the Republican Party in 2008 to put Obama into office? Well forget them, they probably don't miss the faux Bush swagger, but they certainly don't want Obama wishy washy either.

When I voted for President Obama, I did so because his words moved me, his ability to communicate a vision for the future of America inspired me, and his passion when he articulated those visions convinced me that he would move mountains to make those visions a reality, just as he moved mountains to get elected.

Where is that Obama? All I have seen since he has come into office are the bullies, the bullies I thought I'd voted against, the bullies I thought we'd sent packing when we voted in a Democratic President and Democratic majorities in Congress. And yet, it is the same failed Republican talking points, the same Republican voodoo economics, and the same failed Republican policies that seem to be getting Obama's attention and tainting the few bills that even manage to get passed. I didn't vote for this.

And now I sit in despair and watch the Republicans threaten, lie, bully, scare, and prepare to vote NO on everything until they destroy this President and make him a one-termer. From tax cuts for the rich to repealing DADT, they have no shame, only an insatiable hunger for power, no matter the cost, no matter the affects on this country. But Obama seems oblivious. He seems invisible. And he seems above it all.

So again, I ask, didn't we vote for a Democrat? Where is candidate Obama? Why does it feel like we are still trapped in those 8 years of hell? Why does it feel like it is the Republicans in charge and our Democratic President who gave them the reins? Why are the bullies winning? And why does it feel like Obama isn't even putting up the appearance of a fight?

My mother always told my brothers and me never to start a fight, but never to walk away from one either. It's good advice. But apparently Obama doesn't think so.

And to prove my point:

Why is it a Republican Senator who is telling us that they probably won't get to a vote on DADT? Last I heard, the Dems are still in the majority, but it is a Republican who is being asked. And where oh where is President Obama on this issue or any other issue important to Americans? Answer: AWOL and absent without even putting up a fight... I am fast going from disillusioned to despondent.