By Kelly Young

For months I have scoffed as some of my more rabidly conservative acquaintances have expressed their belief that President Barack Obama wants to destroy America as we know it and rebuild our great nation into some facsimile of European socialism. Don’t get me wrong, I disagree with the president on nearly every political topic – from healthcare to immigration to national security to abortion to the economy – I’ve just never been able to swallow the notion that Obama actually wanted the nation to fail. But as the weeks go by and as his list of transgressions grows more impressive with seemingly each decision he makes, my disdainful scoffs are slowly turning into pensive “hmmms.” I now find myself vacillating on a daily basis from the belief that he is a well-meaning liberal who is doing exactly what a well-meaning liberal graced with an overwhelmingly democratic Congress should be expected to do (if the American people are dense enough to permit such an occurrence) and the conviction that he is a paid operative sent to carry out the systematic neutering of America. Prior to his election Obama was hailed by the Left and the mainstream media, pardon the redundancy, as the great uniter – the leader who would put an end to partisan politics once and for all and finally put to rest the specter of racism that has plagued our country since inception. Instead, the shine has come off the Obama apple faster than any president in recent history after he heavy-handedly forced through an economic stimulus bill which was heavy on the spending yet light on the stimulus, put forth a production-crippling emissions trading bill similar to the ones that have already failed in Spain and Australia and also attempted to railroad through a healthcare reform bill before anyone had the audacity to read it – all in his first few months in office. At least he didn’t string us along; Obama quickly put a definitive end to any illusions that he had the slightest interest in spanning the political aisle in order to achieve consensus. And an end to racism? That will never be accomplished until the MSM stops using the race card as their favorite go-to move anytime anyone professes a belief that originates from right of center. Think the federal government is getting too large? Racist. Do you own a gun? Racist. Think ACORN’s systemic practice of offering tax-evading assistance to entrepreneurial pimps should be investigated? Racist. Believe that people in our society should at least make a good-faith effort to pull their own weight? You might as well get in line for your Klan hood. I feel the president has proven himself rather to be the great equalizer. Obama’s objective in all things seems to be leveling the playing field, which is great because let’s face it – nothing beats mediocrity. His repeated contrition-laced speeches made from foreign capitals across the globe have highlighted the fact that Obama resents America’s superpower status and is willing to forfeit our economic and militaristic advantage for the sake of making nice with some of the earth’s most vile despots. His headlong rush into universal health care – despite the fact that over 85 percent of those currently covered by a healthcare provider are happy with their existing plan and that only 41 percent of Americans support his plan – indicates that he is more than willing to dictate when and how the nation’s haves should be providing for the have-nots. His recent decision to scrap the Eastern European missile shield (a decision which succeeded in garnering the U.S. no political capital whatsoever) and his denunciation of Israel’s settlements in the West Bank show he is willing to throw our long-standing allies under the bus in order to appease the bullies of the international stage. At this point in his presidency, it’s hard to say what’s left out there for the democrats to get excited about. The honeymoon period that every president goes through has already worn off, seemingly shortened by the apparent failure of his stimulus plan, and Obama was able to parlay that window into a surprising small number of policy initiatives. His environmental cap-and-trade proposal has stalled and is likely dead in the legislature, and it is looking more and more like the democrats will have to go it alone if they want to pass their more ambitious healthcare reform plans – a decision which will pay dire dividends in the 2010 and 2012 elections. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have all the right answers. But then again if I were a rookie politician who had met with scant legislative success in my political career and had zero executive experience, I can assure you I would have never even considered floating my name as a presidential candidate. Instead, the reins to our nation now rest in the hands of a woefully unqualified man who got elected based on nothing more than the warm fuzzies voters got from hearing the vague promises of hope and change. While Obama has certainly done his all to bring about the change, those of us more concerned with substance than style, more impressed by competency than eloquence, are finding ourselves with the prospect of hope in short supply. Kelly Young is a former reporter for the Jacksonville Daily Progress and is currently an employee of the City of Jacksonville.