Woes Started Long Before Obama Took Office

To The Editor:
There’s a lot of talk and blame going on in Washington and around the nation. There seems to be considerable angst and frustration permeating the public attitudes today over the many social, economic, and political ills facing our nation. Most of these problems have been around for decades and quite a few continue to defy solutions. Even the most well intentioned politicians and concerned citizens scratch their heads as to how to deal with the plethora of questions boiling up in our moral and legislative quagmire.
We can’t blame President Obama for a lot of the problems we face as a nation because a president can only do so much. As mentioned, a lot of our problems started long before Obama was in office. However, the president can exacerbate, confuse, stifle and mislead on many of the problems concerning our nation through his policies, actions or lack thereof. Whereas Obama might not have created our original economic woes, his policies and attitudes towards these woes seem to have done more harm than good for our economy.
Unemployment rate is very high at this point. And although I hope a conservative is elected president in 2012, I don’t think she or he will be able to wave a magic wand and unemployment figures will drop below 8 percent anytime soon. I doubt if the war on terrorists and the health care issues would be solved in her or his first four years.
However, as a conservative president she or he would likely enact policies and plot a direction that leads to smaller government, less onerous regulations, and less burdensome taxes on small businesses and individuals. And over a period of time, the private sector would grow and create jobs, revenues would increase and this quagmire we now find ourselves in could be made less and less hazardous.
The angst and frustration of everyday working men and women, many including average union members, are not about to be fooled twice by slick talk, well-packaged double speak and smooth progressive rhetoric. No, in fact if any conservative wants to get hired in 2012 by the voters she or he had better come with her or his armor tightly in place, shield polished and sword ready for battle because far too many of our so-called leaders have refused to take the battlefield or have fallen by the wayside and found wanting in an egregious manner.
JIMMIE L. HOLLIS
Millville