President Obama Finally Caves And Seals His Waterloo?

Today, the 6th of December, 2010, President Barack Obama sealed his fate as a one term president by reaching a deal with the Republican Party to extend the extra tax cuts for the rich. This he did against the wishes of his party and supporters. Finally, he proved what all progressives had suspected ever since he took office that he is not a progressive.

Defending this political suicide, the president said that he agreed to this deal because he did not want the unemployment benefits of jobless workers to expire as Republicans had threatened to let it expire unless they got the extension tax cuts for their masters. This Mr. Obama said, made him go against the wishes of 67% of Americans who do not want the Bush tax cuts extended according to a CBS poll.

This latest capitulation of the president is likely going to be the last straw for his followers as many have come out to condemn what they see as his spinelessness and untrustworthiness. The news media and blogosphere is filled with disappointed and, in many cases, disenchanted followers who are now, mostly ex - followers because of what they see as a blatant betrayal of trust by President Obama.

The palpable feeling is that the president has finally allowed the Republican Party to seal his Waterloo like they said they would. Now, his base no longer has any faith in him, and being that he is not likely to get any Republican votes during an election, Mr. Obama has become damaged goods that needs to be replaced by the Democratic Party if the party will stand any chance in the 2012 presidential election.

And why does this president always seem to not know where to direct his anger? Why does he always want to channel his anger towards his own supporters who only want him to succeed? This question beats me every time and, believe me, I have tried to find an answer, any answer as to why. Just last night, after almost everybody supporting him showed outrage over his latest capitulation to the Republicans, the  president called a hasty and unscheduled news conference to, once again, chastise the only people he seems able to - his base.

He called them purists who can't understand the need for bipartisanship and even made connections between what is happening now and the public option debate during the health care bill passage. The president went ahead to suggest that we, as his followers, should be grateful to have him, and be glad that he has achieved more that all the democratic presidents of the past.

First of all, Mr. President, bipartisanship is not always doing what the opposition wants which is what you have almost always done, I don't know how he could think that's what it is. Second, he may have it in his head that he has achieved so much and that we should be grateful but the reality is that we voted for him, we put him there for our own reasons and he has not met our expectations. Therefore, when he goes raving and ranting at us,  he shouldn't forget that he is the one who's supposed to impress us and not the other way round. Don't also forget that we reserve the right to chose someone else to lead us if he can't meet our expectations as he is not doing right now.

There's a huge difference between bipartisanship and doing what the opposition wants and the president is showing us that right now. He has dared the Republicans to try him and see whether he is ready for a fight but I wonder what they have to do to bring out this fight he is talking about, challenge him to physical fisticuffs? The president has a heck of a lot to do to pacify his base before 2012 - even if I don't know what he can do - so he should really get to work or be a one term president like I said.