Obama wasted his chance

WASHINGTON — As President Barack Obama and his White House aides continue to review how his first year-plus in office has gone, they have conceded making mistakes.

While they have declined for the most part to be specific, I am not so reluctant. Here is my assessment of some, not all, of the ways the administration misjudged the mood of the nation and the situation in Washington.

Instead of using his political capital to spell out exactly how and why health insurance reform should be tackled, Obama left one of the country's thorniest problems, which has defied solution for 45 years, to Democrats on Capitol Hill. This wasted an entire year, pitted Democrats against each other and did not take advantage of the president's popularity.

Obama never effectively explained how the economy will decline and how many more jobs will be lost if nothing is done to curb health care costs. He never explained how the average American family with health insurance would be helped by reform.

Now he has given Congress an ultimatum, saying he doesn't care if health care passes without a single Republican vote as long as something passes. This president promised to bring change, end business as usual in Washington and work with Republicans to make life better for Americans. It's hard to see that he's done any of that.

As a result of his refusal to address health care details right away, the public is confused, distrustful and angry.

When the tide began to turn against health insurance reform, aided brilliantly by Republicans who began talking nonsensically, but effectively, about "death panels" and socialistic medicine, the White House did not understand what was happening and continued dilly-dallying.

Long after Wall Street began collapsing, taking modern capitalism along with it, Obama failed to understand the depth of fear on Main Street. The president tried to explain why bailouts were necessary but waited until just a few days ago to send Congress his bill to rein in big banks.

Meanwhile, the deficit exploded, Wall Street fat cats who caused the mess gave themselves huge bonuses and nothing was done to toughen financial regulations.

And the public is confused, distrustful and angry.

Obama promised to close the Guantanamo prison, end the war in Iraq, capture Osama bin Laden and stabilize Afghanistan. He has done some of what he promised but has pulled back on many of his promises.

While there are good reasons for much of what he has done in the foreign policy arena, the public remains confused, distrustful and angry.