What Went Wrong? We Have A Few Ideas...

Oh where to begin? Frankly, I'm sort of surprised to see this at the top of Politico.

The first paragraph of the story is as damning as the headline:

What President Barack Obama needs most is obvious: a new political strategy — ideally one more grounded in the realities of governance than the one he embraced a year ago Wednesday.

Well, yes, he does. Yet even after recognizing this about Obama, John Harris and Carol Lee want to be sure you understand that Obama is still popular (he "scores more than fifty percent in most polls"!) and he still has power (his "party controls Congress"!)

I'd question some of Obama's star power right now, however. He failed to deliver for Martha Coakley in Massachusetts and he failed to deliver for candidates in Virginia and New Jersey recently. He failed to deliver in Copenhagen when he campaigned for the Olympics. The world's dictators are unmoved by him - Iran is still on track to produce a nuclear bomb very soon. Terrorists still want to kill us. Shall I go on?

What went wrong in Year 1? Start with the apology tours and the American president bowing to rulers and dictators the world over. Move on to the elitist, out-of-touch style he quickly adopted - a party every three days or so in The White House and we can't forget the New York "date night" that was on the taxpayer dime.

Let's not forget his appeasement of terrorists, his plans to bring KSM to New York City for criminal trial, his plans to close Gitmo despite no good plan in place to house or disperse those being held there, or his plan to bring those at Gitmo to American prisons. How about his slow reaction time to the underwear-bomber while he played golf in Hawaii? His failure to support those in Iran fighting for their freedom and dying in the streets for it? His embracing of what they believed to be an illegitimate election?

How about his attacks on the CIA that is ongoing?

What about Obama's snubbing of our British allies, among others? And certainly let's not forget that promise of transparency and all those negotiations that were going to be held on CSPAN. The American people are sick of the bribes and the back room deals.

Cap and trade? Let's not even go there.

I recall Don Surber's Fifty-two Days, Fifty-Two Mistakes post. He could do another one at the one year mark. (I'd link to it, but it's not showing up anymore.)

But back to Politico's original question, "What went wrong?" We could go on and on, but I think it's pretty clear that a lot went wrong. If you have to sum it up in 140 characters or less, I'd say Obama tried to do too much too soon - too fast. He leaned too far left. He broke some important promises. He's aloof, detached, and seems unable to speak without his Teleprompter. His cabinet is filled with tax cheats, crooks, and lobbyists.

Well, that was more than 140 characters, but the point remains the same.

Scott Brown's election last night is encouraging. He's not as conservative as some would wish, but he's certainly not as left as he could be. The ground swell that began with the Tax Day Tea Parties last year has continued to grow. People are speaking out and expressing their dissatisfaction with this far-left administration at the ballot box.

It will be interesting to see what they have to say in November.