“Abracadabra, everything’s perfect”

I was really surprised when I saw an article in my local paper quoting a retired plant worker saying “Obama’s been in office two years and he’s being blamed for not saying, ‘Abracadabra, everything’s perfect.’” It’s gratifying to hear someone with a more reasonable view of things.

It seems to me we are prone to forget what took place years ago that got us into this mess and how we expect quick fixes. Understandably we are focused on the short term and tend not to look at the long view. For those who are out of work and can’t find a job or who lost their house because they lost their job and can’t pay the mortgage, I can understand that position. But we have to keep reminding ourselves that if it took a long time to get us into this mess, it will take a long time to recover.

There was a lot of euphoria when Obama took office. Our choice in the presidential election was, at least to me, clear. With Obama the mood in the country was that he would quickly change things around for the better. But because the economic problem was so deep and pervasive, the actions he took didn’t seem to fix things a fast as we wanted. Houses are still being foreclosed, people can’t find jobs and the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.

A recent article by Rick Newman, of US News and World Report, reported that corporations and investors are doing better under Obama but the undereducated and low-income Americans are doing worst. With the GOP poised to take over the House and possibly the Senate, the gap between the rich an poor will only widen.

So now anger seems to be the word of the day. We will elect a bunch of right leaning newbies who will fix things now! Well, don’t be surprised if things don’t get any better soon. I predict chaos will run rampant. Maybe, just maybe, this will improve Obama’s bid for reelection in 2012. Who knows?