Lots of people voted for Obama because they thought--not without evidence--that the Republicans had become too incompetent, corrupt, and generally clueless. Certainly there was a perceived "competence gap" between the two candidates for president, and certainly one sounded more cooly competent than the other. Most of all, competence--and not ideology--was the change Obama promised people believed in. People still like our president (and it’s easy to see why), but his actual policies and some of his key appointments are causing people lose confidence in his competence. Even some of his most enthusiastic supporters are asking whether he really knows what he’s doing. It’s likely he doesn’t in many ways, being very short on experience, too ideologically complacent, and saddled with Congressional leaders he can’t or at least shouldn’t (most Americans agree) trust. We shouldn’t hope that he fails, so we should hope that he’s a quick study with an astute eye for what’s working and what’s not. And we shouldn’t hestitate at all to offer tough and helpful criticisms of policies that aren’t personal attacks on the man.
And yes, I hope he and his Congressional soul-mates fail. Not in a way that does long-term damage to our economy. Not in a way that causes a major terrorist attack. Not in a way that causes preventable wars. Not in a way that's excruciatingly embarrassing for American liberals and American blacks.
But on the short-term failure on secondary-level stuff, such as competence stuff, that is enough to kick him out in 2012? Oh, yes. Please, please, please. Failure of that sort would be just deserts given the Democrats' overall hubris/hate/complacency of late, and let's face it, the healthiest thing for our country. It would momentarily sober up both parties about the dangerous weaknesses possible in rallying around image-appeal candidates.
But of course, my finely calculated level of healthy failure, in which Obama learns enough on the job in time to still lose electorally but not screw up truly royally, is about the last thing likely to happen. The denial on the left-side(i.e., the majority side!) about Obama's and Congress's failures is going to be something to behold, fueled both by black solidarity and liberal pride.
Maybe the best scenario to hope for is a genuine Obama-tacking towards the center, i.e., genuine enough to truly piss off his liberal and black constituencies. Nah...as I think about it, it's impossible.
There was never any evidence that the Republicans, despite their problems, were as "incompetent, corrupt and generally clueless" as the Democrats. Non-liberals who voted for Obama were taking a leap of faith.
I hope that Obama fails because what he is trying to do is wrong - wrong for the country and just plain wrong. I want Obama to fail because our country can only succeed if he does fail. The sooner Obama's incompetence becomes evident, the sooner we will see serious resistance to his programs. What I hope emerges is a credible alternative vision.
I wish Obama success and happiness in his marriage. I hope his girls grow up to be virtuous and happy women. I wish him good health and a happy life and most of all a good defense before the fearsome judgment seat of Christ.