Presidential Report Card: F

So, the news today is that Obama has decided to pass on his promise to ban land mines (see report).  I’m was not at all surprised.  Yet another long-winded promise to sooth the peaceniks and improve his public opinion score (among peaceniks only, of course).

Say what you want, but this only reinforces my firm belief that politicians are all just opportunists with a budget and a PR team. A good speech writer doesn't hurt either.

Let's see...

• Land mines banned: F
• Gitmo closed: F
• Wars ended: F
• Improved soldier PTSD program in place: F
• New Orleans cleaned up: F
• "Green" jobs a-plenty: F
• Improved education system: F
• Improved space exploration programs: F
• Improved scientific research grant system: F
• "Shovel-ready" jobs: F
• Recession "over" = "mission accomplished": F (unless you really believe the hype)
• Changes to food ingredient labeling (as promised): F
• Improved immigration policies: F
• Border protection/monitoring improvements: F
• Defense procurement/integrity improvements: F
• Improved black/white race relations: F, I can't see any difference
• Changes to address long-standing FDA problems: F
• Changes to address long-standing VA problems: F
• Changes to address looooooong-standing FAA problems: major F
• Changes to improve mass transit systems: F
• Changes to improve Federal highway congestion problems: F
• The Taliban loves America now: F
• Al Qeada loves America now: F
• Iran, N. Korea, Venezuela, Russia loves America now: F

I’ll bet if you look away from your computer screen and think real hard, focusing internally, and ask yourself to identify SPECIFIC things that have REALLY improved as a DIRECT result of the last election, you will come up with ZERO.  ZERO.  The spanish word for nothing is nada.

Again, all I'm saying is that a new face and a new speech does not automatically equate to a better world. A better "feeling" maybe, depending on your predisposition and receptivity to the platform message, but tangibly speaking: no substance at all. This is one reason why I'm voting less and less with each election cycle. I've seen the same shlock foisted upon us too many times and really have lost interest. Bush = Clinton = Bush = McCain = Gore = Obama = [___].