What Goes Up Must Come Down

With just over 50 days into Barack Obama's tenure as the President of the United States, it's still much too early to get any kind of real clarification on his performance. Obama supporters will tell you that it's unrealistic to expect too much from the new President in such a short period of time, especially under the circumstances that he has inherited from previous administrations.

Those that are against Obama may argue that
with the current situation that the nation
is in, Obama can't spare any time and must take action that shows results immediately, particularly regarding the economy.

Obama has arguments both for and against his efforts to reach out to the opposing political parties. On one end, Obama has appointed both Republicans and Democrats with a history of working well with Republicans to his cabinet, and he has also organized social gatherings that included members of both parties.

On the other end there is the appointment of the White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who is viewed by many as a highly partisan
political figure, and not a symbol of change and unity as President Obama represents.
One of Obama's pledges while on the campaign trail was to handle his presidency with a non-partisan approach and have a willingness to reach across party lines in order to
fulfill necessary action that would be beneficial to the nation.

This has become particularly difficult lately with Republicans being critical of Obama's passing of a spending bill filled with what many consider to be the same types earmarks Obama criticized on the campaign trail. These earmarks are garnering much more
attention than they would under any other circumstance, partially due to the economic situation of the nation, but more so due to Obama's campaign promise to go through bills "line by line" to eliminate wasteful spending, which is clearly not the case this time around. While Obama cites the urgency
needed to stimulate the economy as reason enough to pass the flawed bill, opponents cite his campaign rhetoric of change as simply that, and have labeled him as just another politician after being hailed as much more.

Many of those who aren't believers in Obama's rhetoric of hope and change are listeners of conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh, who has been at the center of controversy since stating that he hopes that Obama's presidency fails. Limbaugh, who arguably has a larger influence than anyone else in the conservative movement, is making
it extremely difficult for President
Obama to appease to the Republican base by stirring controversy with a war of words and encouraging people to take sides. Because the sides that most people take would most likely be with the side of their political affiliation, this discourages rational debate and allows the same politics from years past to continue.

A president, let alone an entire nation, would have a much more difficult time ascending when other factors are attempting to bring him down. Obama is doing an admirable job in uniting the nation; however, he must continue to keep focus on what's best for the nation and to not allow his detractors to steer him from bringing
the American people together.