Obama Chaneling Bush

After just over two years in office President Obama, with his bombing campaign of Libya has completed his metamorphosis into George W. Bush. During the campaign, then candidate Obama repeatedly demonized president Bush's policies while over promising the American people that if elected he would make wiser decisions. With the complicity of the mass media, Obama rode into the White House with unprecedented euphoria behind the ambiguous slogan "Change" and the promise of restoring America's standing in the world.

The same media that gushed over Obama in 08' has been shockingly silent regarding some of President's rehashing of Bush era policies. First, the President extended the so called Bush tax cuts for the rich of which he was critical of during the campaign. He has also largely left the Bush foreign policy apparatus in tact. According to a recent Newsweek expose, the number of predator drone attacks in Pakistan has dramatically increased under Obama. The Obama justice department has defended the Bush administrations positions in federal court on issues such as state secrets, detainee rights, targeted killings and carrying concealed weapons in public parks. He has not closed Guantanamo bay as promised and has brought back military tribunals. A February cover story in Fortune details the increased number of weapons sales to the middle east during the Obama administration.

Obama was hugely critical of big oil during the Bush and Cheney years on what he felt were soft tax and regulatory policies. According to the Wall St. Journal ,four months into his administration, Obama received a stern warning about the dangers of offshore drilling from the D.C. Federal court of appeals. Fearing the loss of $10 billion in royalty revenue the administration warned the court that the ruling "may have a significant financial consequences for the federal government". The court reversed its decision and lifted the ban on offshore drilling and ...well you know the rest.

During the first year of his presidency, Obama traveled to foreign capitals and apologized for America's transgressions. He gave a rousing speech in Cairo Egypt whereby he promised a "new beginning with the Muslim world". His supporters expressed their excitement that the world "respected us again". After the presidents backdoor bombing campaign of Libya, the luster that engulfed him during his first year in office and garnered him a undeserved Nobel Peace Prize has began to fade worldwide. He was met with chants of "Obama go home" from protesters during his recent trip to Brazil. Protesters in Spain-upset by the Libya bombings chanted "no more blood for oil". He was burned in effigy in Mali and Sri Lanka and suffers from a less than 10% approval rating in Israel. Now comes word of a US covert war in Yemen, by way of increased drone attacks against militants seeking to topple the government.

The 2012 election season is just a few months away and I predict an enthusiasm gap for the Obama-maniacs. Their hope and change fire has been doused with political reality-leaving a large segment of the left disillusioned. The almost religious fervor Obama generated in 08' will most certainly not be replicated. The President has one foot firmly planted in the proverbial grave-its up to the Republicans to throw him a Banana peel.