Nest Eggs

What Have You Done, Mr. Obama?

“If you don’t have a record to run on, you paint your opponent as someone they should run from,” so said then President-elect Barack Obama in his 2008 Democratic National Convention acceptance speech in Denver.  It’s all about performance.  That’s what this year’s election is about.  The headline issue - jobs.  To quote our President in the same above referenced speech, “We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was president …” Mr. Obama, where are the jobs? 

As a financial advisor, earning and retaining my job as my clients' counselor is based on my performance.  Should not our own President?  Yet at this year’s Democratic Convention our President asked for another four years despite the fact that he said that if his stimulus failed to work he would not seek reelection.  Well I guess determining whether stimulus is “working” is subjective.  President Obama is seeking another term and his party did say, yes.  Why?

Four years ago, I would concede that then candidate Obama was a charismatic and wonderful speaker.  Even that cool poster of himself and the word CHANGE was catchy.  I marveled at how he was able to captivate the young people of America, the women, the Latinos.  He was inspiring!  But this is changing as our President continues to disenchant numerous demographics as well those within his own party.  Reports say that his White House is divided and morale is low.  As a younger person (relatively!), staring at 36 directly in the eyes later this month I am just outside a key demographic that Obama had sewn up in 2008, namely the Millennials (18-29 year olds).  In that election, Mr. Obama had their vote by as much as 66%.  Today he leads Romney by 49% to 41%.  Do you blame them?  According to the July poll by Generation Opportunity, a non-profit, non partisan organization that attempts to mobilize young voters, almost 2 million of our young people are so discouraged that they have dropped out of the workforce.  Among this demographic, that’s almost 17%!

As I spent Saturday night in that Millennial-rich Georgetown haunt, Smith Point, I considered this.  There in that dark, alcohol-infested dive bar where the young and privileged elite go and where our country’s greater social ills are not apparent because our government’s largesse feeds their mouths and the trough is always full, I thought of our college grads - our future. All over our nation, those grads find that no one is hiring in their chosen career.  Their debts are at staggering levels and according to Pew, 53% of those between 18-24 years of age have moved back home because of the economy.  The Generation Opportunity poll shows that Obama’s loyal demographic has been short-changed.  Eighty-four percent say they are delaying making important decisions or feel they are in jeopardy.  Thirty-nine percent say they are delaying finding their own place to live, while 31% say they are delaying on starting a family. Furthermore, nearly 25% say they are delaying getting married, and 76% feel that the lack of job opportunities is shrinking the middle class.

If Obama’s devotees feel that there is a lack of opportunity now, what are they going to feel like after four more years of this President’s policies?  With $16 trillion in debt and growing at $1 trillion a year, this is the reality that we face.  How will we all feel when our government is even larger and more cash strapped?  What have you done, Mr. Obama and where are you taking us?  I still don’t know.  Do you?

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