Lame Duck President with Majority Control in Congress and 3 Years Remaining?|Barack and a Hard Place

I have seen some interesting bumper stickers since the election of Barack Obama. One read, "I'll keep my money, you keep the change!" Another read, "Obama, the Trojan Horse." Another, "Honk, if you will be paying for healthcare." Certainly the sentiment has changed since the historical inauguration in January 2009 when all the talking heads were misty eyed with emotion. At the end of the day, experience and past associations matter!

The hard cold truth has hit the American public. Gifted speaker and exceptional leader are not the same attributes. Over the last few months, President Obama has lost his mojo. No longer has he been effective with his persuasive powers. Even with an arsenal of main stream medium eager to proliferate the mighty spin machine at his disposal, the American public has torn off the mask a revealed a socialist - and yes they were duped and elected him. This will be the first time in history that a President with majority control in congress will be a lame duck after only 1 year in office.

There are consequences for blatantly ignoring the will of the people. This is not the type of "hope" people felt they would be getting. Although, no one should be surprised with the result given Barack Obama's non-existent executive experience and close ties with dubious citizens. The opposition base to the current leadership has been supercharged. Sure there is an anti-incumbency tone; however, the clear agenda over the next few years is to minimize the damage of the healthcare reform bill which has become law. Gridlock in Washington DC is actually seen as healthy to small business. Americans want government out of the way of entrepreneurs.

The danger for the Republican Party and any Tea Party activists is twofold. They must not become confident and resist the invitation to defend the multi-channel spin messages that will be hurled at them. Conservatives must remain laser focused on the merits of the legislation that prove to be egregious to most Americans. Day by day until November, they must itemize the harm and embrace the benefits while vowing to enhance beneficial provisions rather than a total repeal of health care reform. The system must be fixed and not ignored. Likewise, we must get the doctor closer to the patient and further from the government.

Let us be honest. If this legislation was truly great, why are many states challenging the constitutionality of the new law? Why are myriad companies changing profitability guidance based on the significant cost they will incur as a result of this new law? Why is the Student Loan program part of Health Care Reform? After the doctor fix has been approved, where is the savings to the national deficit? What has been done to improve the medical infrastructure prior to mandating 30 million new subsidized patients? What happened to the pre-existing condition provision exemptions that were inadvertently omitted from the legislation? Who will be happy paying taxes for 3 years before they see any meaningful benefits? Why are doctors and other health care professionals cautioning that they will turn to other professions as a result of this legislation? The greatest accomplishment of health care has been to engage the American Public in politics and mid-term elections.

Opponents will argue that the status quo was worse than doing nothing. Agreed! However, no one was advocating doing nothing! An overwhelming majority of the American Public did not approve of the solutions contrived in back room deals with no bipartisan support. The American Public wanted to start over and take an incremental approach to fixing a problem rather than a power grab of freedoms by the government.

The November 2010 elections will send a very clear message to all politicians. The voter's voice will be heard and they will have little tolerance for any elected official that does not actively get the people's work done. Do not be surprised to hear a call for term limits based on the lack of representation felt by the American public.