The Barack Obama that most Hoosiers remember voting for can still be found on YouTube. He stands before a cheering Elkhart high school gymnasium in August 2008, tireless, aspirational, promising a new America of jobs and hope. "We can choose another future," says the newcomer with the funny name. "So I ask you to join me."
Today that view of Obama is harder to find in Indiana. A couple of weeks back and a dozen miles west of Elkhart, hundreds gathered in another school gym - except this time it was for a job fair. With the local unemployment rate above 12% and rising again this summer, about a third of the employer display tables stood empty. Julie Griffin, who voted for Obama in '08, sat down at the room's edge, well dressed and discouraged. After 23 years as a payroll administrator at a local RV plant, she got laid off 18 months ago. "Really, what has he been doing?" she said when I asked about Obama's efforts to help people like her. "I guess I don't know what he is doing."
Quite a few economists were trying to tell the administration that the economic "stimulus" was insufficient... but that's just a reflection of Obama himself. He's a half-measure kind of guy. If there's two proposed solutions to a problem, Obama will try and hit the point in the exact middle regardless which view is actually the correct one. He thinks that living in the center will be the most electorally advantageous point. Most of us call that "unprincipled".
So of course.. Obama is a terrible president. Hopefully only 1 term..
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