“Lame duck” is too misleading a description of the remaining years of President Barack Obama’s time in office. Labeling a term “lame duck” implies that nothing will get done in Washington, and everyone knows it. The truth is, nothing will indeed happen, but the chief executive will try everything in his power to convince you otherwise.
In the State of the Union address Jan. 28, Obama presented vague promises and ideals — many recycled from previous State of the Union speeches — to a tuned-out public.
The president called for a “year of action.”
This year of action makes sense when you recall that last year was a year of reaction — reaction to the fumbling of the Obamacare website, the IRS scandal and the NSA revelations.
But this well-wished year of action falls far too short. Simply conjuring up ambiguous plans for income equality, job creation and foreign policy for this year fails to adequately address the needs of the present.
When we take a step back and glance at the real state of the union, we see a population hopelessly divided. Every issue imaginable — from picking which shows to watch to deciding which company brands you should support — somehow falls along political party lines.
The majority of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Most unfortunately, the American people are tragically disillusioned about the future of the country.
This proposed year of action is a far cry from this reality. Even if the president had his way, his actions would not cut the surface of what the country really needs.
But the year of action remains hopelessly dead on arrival. The midterm elections will overwhelmingly influence this year, but the president’s lack of leadership will doom this actionable year from even starting.
The campaign commercials, the bumper stickers and yard signs are already coming out. For some lawmakers, the choice between drafting controversial legislation that would change the country and campaigning is clear. Retaining one’s seat — to, of course, enact real change in Washington later — trumps actually making things happen in the present.
Comprehensive immigration reform, minimum wage increases and other grand initiatives look bleaker each congressional campaign day.
But the reality remains that nothing will get done in Washington. The president cannot lead, but he tells the nation otherwise. In his State of the Union speech, Obama tried to convince the nation that better times were ahead, the gridlock would soon break, and the candidate of hope and change would deliver. But national headlines and opinion polls indicate otherwise.
The only real achievement of the president’s time in office is passing the Affordable Care Act through a Democratic Congress. But when Republicans took the House in 2010, his lofty presidential ambitions went silent.
Obama threatened to circumvent Congress if his demands were not met. This president, unable to communicate with Democrats and Republicans alike on the Hill, completely skipped the possibility of engaging members of both parties and decided that he was the only person to push his agenda.
The president plans to individually mandate a pay raise for federal contract employees. But sweeping immigration reform, welfare initiatives and educational reforms cannot be done by executive action alone. Congress is still in play and still important.
Leadership does not mean circumventing a branch of Congress if you don’t get what you want. It means working with the opposition party.
During the Clinton administration, the chief executive had to deal with a zealous Republican Party that controlled Congress. Unlike Obama, he engaged the Republican leadership and brought reform in bipartisan fashion. Clinton made what some called a lame-duck presidency into real presidential years — note the plural — of action.
One would assume that a true year of action should start with an action. No, this year, like so many before, started with a vague and unpromising speech devoid of concrete plans but full of false hopes.
Even though some will decry Republicans for stymieing the year of action, the president’s lack of leadership will secure his lame-duck status and place in history.
[Michael Beato is a UF economics sophomore. His columns appear on Wednesdays. A version of this column ran on page 7 on 2/5/2014 under the headline "Obama’s ‘year of action’ is too late"]
