When Obama was elected in 2008. people asked what I hoped for in his presidency. I always replied that I hoped people would like him just as much after 4 years as they did to elect him in the first place. Then they elected him to serve a second term, but that in itself is not unusual as about 21 presidents have been re-elected to a second term, 12 of those since 1900. What is unusual about Obama is that though his popularity appears low among some polls, his overall approval rating was highest when taking the country through tough economic times (Gallup poll: 69% approval in January 2009), and lowest during the last year (Gallup poll: 40% during November 2014) when voter frustration about the gridlock in Congress combined with his seeming inaction in the face of some crises that arose during this last year, for example the Ebola epidemic and and the successes of the middle-eastern ISIS or ISIL group.
The response to the Ebola epidemic has varied from state to state, and the chief criticism of the federal response is that the Obama administration had done little to show that the measures undertaken to contain the disease were, or could be, effective. Taking matters into their own hands, governors of several states attempted to put into effect quarantine measures. On October 30, 2014, the Boston Globe's editorial entitled "Ebola quarantine rules should reflect science, not hysteria," reads in part:
"This patchwork response sows confusion and seems grounded more in
politics and fear of the unknown than in science. It also has a
troubling unintended consequence: punishing the altruistic health care
workers who are contributing their skills to a global effort to stop the
epidemic at its source. That global effort needs more troops and
supplies, not fewer. ...
At the very least, state officials need to establish safe and habitable
conditions and make sure that those in quarantine are afforded due
process under the law."
I am sure that many feel that as President, Obama has the duty to insist on a workable and consistent response to this disease's possible spread. But I do not think it reasonable to lay the blame of a lack of timely response that offers solace to the population at large about a crisis that, a month later, has been superseded by the current pseudo-event conjured up by the media to capture public attention and sell ad space.
In addition to the problems in Syria, in the Ukraine and in other parts of the world, focus on the the newest radical group ISIS, or ISIL, has been made a benchmark for the Obama administration's lack of direction in dealing with these crises. Such pronouncements of inaction, not surprisingly by the same news agencies that whipped up public sentiment about the Ebola scare, are bolstered by pronouncements by McConnell & Boehner of Presidential inaction in the face of this threat, but who are also ever critical of Obama's overstepping his presidential authority.
In an abrupt about face, an article in the NY Post on September 28, 2014, "Boehner also said he believed that Obama had the authority under
post-Sept. 11, 2001, resolutions to order the airstrikes that began
inside Syria on Sept. 22, while Congress was out of session." Odd then that Obama's order should foment such a firestorm of protest among the conservative members of congress as well as conservative media pundits. The problem is that no one can decide if he is being too timid or too aggressive.
For example, George Will stated on Fox news during a morning show on September 1, 2014: "Well, yes, I mean,
caution, which is what he's being criticized for, is a nice defect to have after
the first decade of the century. On the other hand, the rhetoric has not been
cautious. The president talked about rolling back ISIS, Dempsey, the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff talking about the need to destroy ISIS. That means
liberate large cities that have been taken, which you can't do with F-16s and
F-18s.
"I think what the president is trying to do, and I
sympathize with this, is to get the neighborhood to rally. I mean, look what's
in the neighborhood. Saudi Arabia has 250 highly competent aircraft and an AWACS
system to control it. You got Iran and Iraq, are enemies of ISIS, so is Syria,
Jordan, and the Kurds who are, for all intents and purposes, a nation right
now.
"So, you got six nations in the neighborhood. If they
can't do it, we shouldn't."
