Going back to last week’s class and watching the video on the women getting up telling president Obama that she is waiting for the so called, “change,” is how many Americans are feeling. Last week President Obama released this statement “Obviously, for the millions of people who are still out of work, people who have seen their home values decline, people who are struggling to pay the bills day to day, [the recession is] still very real for them." (CNN.com article) Obama realizes it but still is unable to act on anything to make the economy better.
Individuals are still out of work in American and for many it is hard for them to say things are looking better. With midterm elections coming around many of Obama’s promises have been kept and his image is spiraling downward.
In Richard Waterman’s, The Image-Is-Everything Presidency he quotes Waldo Brown talking about Lincoln’s image and states “Lincoln presented himself [to Americans] as a common man.” In addition Waterman also goes on to quote Mary Stuckey who says “Lincoln used his image as a ‘common man’ combined with the biblical clarity of expression to attain and keep popular support.” (26.)
In my opinion this is what most candidates are trying to do in current elections, Obama especially. Since being in office one third of Americans feel the recession is very serious since Obama has been in office, and another 29 percent fell it is moderate. Obama’s image is decreasing more and more with Americans thinking most of what he promised was a lie. Forty eight percent think the president Obama’s policies are never going to help our nation’s economy.
Obama has been facing criticism from many Americans because of what he has been doing since being elected. Many feel he is not getting the job done with strengthening our economy and even our entire country. People are saying that his work takes time and will slowly start to help our country. To me I do not think any of Obama’s promises are going to come through but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Sources:
Silverleib, Alan. "Recession Not Over, Public Says - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. 26 Sept. 2010. Web. 26 Sept. 2010.
Waterman, Richard W., Robert Wright, and Clair Gilbert. Saint. "Chapter 2." The Image Is Everything Presidency: Dilemmas in American Leadership. Boulder, Colo. [u.a.: Westview, 1999. Print.
There is no doubt in any American's mind that President Barack Obama has failed to follow through with his many promises of change during his campaign. In my opinion, Obama has great public speaking skills, and his suave voice could then convince his country anything he wanted them to believe. Now that we are in a deep recession, Obama cannot keep on making empty promises to the nation. In order to talk the talk, he has to walk the walk. Obama is focusing on improving his likable "guy next door" image, although if he just focused on improving the economic recession in the country, his image will likely also improve. Obama was elected because of the promises he made to make America a truly great country, and he used his "guy next door" image to his advantage as well. Waterman brings up an important point in Chapter two of "The Image-is-Everything Presidency". Waterman states that "Ford's biggest problem was that he tried to combine two contradictory images: those of the "guy next door" and "Mr. President"...we may like the boy next door...but we do not want him to be president" (30) I'd like to tell Obama to kick his "guy next door" image to the curb, and start focusing on how to be "Mr. President".
ReplyDeleteI understand the viewpoint being presented in this blog post, in fact I worry daily about whether or not I'll ever be employed, but I think that the lines have been crossed between promises and lies in reference to the American public. One of the major criticisms during Obama's campaign was that his youth and inexperience would lead him to fail as a president. In Waterman's "Image is Everything Presidency" he states that early presidents used the common man image, the master politician image, and the washington outsider image while campaigning. I believe Obama represents certain aspects of all three. Waterman states that the problem with the master politician image (which constituted a president of action) "degenerated into an image of a politician who is perceived to be dishonest." I think people forget that a broken promise does not immediately translate into a lie. I would find it hard to believe that Obama did not genuinely intend to fulfill those promises. Personally I believe in his integrity no matter how naive it sounds, but there is only so much a president can accomplish with an opposing party that appears to be dead set on derailing any policy he wants to put forth.
ReplyDeleteCJ Ferdenzi