LA Times 9,9 "Watershed Tonight" Dr. Phillips

September 8, 2009
Watershed Tonight?
Obama's emphasis on passing at all costs, healthcare reform, vesting power in czars, speaking kindly to our foreign enemies, having difficulty using the word 'terrorism,' failure in assuring main street voters that he has heard their criticisms, has not related to the concerns of a majority of the electorate. Assuming he will not change direction, tonight's speech represents a watershed in his relationship with a majority of the American people.

In a recent article I questioned the observation of a writer who stated that America needs to change. Isn't it time that someone in congress or the administration pose that question to those most concerned, the American people. The elephant in the room going unnoticed by the President and his staff is simply stated in a simple question for him. What is the change Mr. President, you are trying to persuade us to make? It's obvious from your words it must be much deeper than just healthcare reform.

This healthcare proposal on his part, as needful as it might be, is no longer the issue of most importance to the nation. A majority of the country has awakened and their concern is much larger than this single issue. Simply stated the nexus of the dissent concerns a majority of the citizens of this nation who now conclude that the President is seeking to take away the American way of life and erode long held constitutional freedoms, promoted by past administrations. This observation by many may or may not be true, but it does exist and must be addressed soon.

One can utilize rhetoric and legalese in softening the tone, but this country's majority will simply not permit the removal of basic traditional values only to have them replaced by ideas that threaten, if enacted, to remove liberty and constitutional guarantees. The administration's assumption that healthcare reform proposals are responsible for the President's declining popularity are wrong.

The main problem that Obama is now facing, centers around a lack of credibility underlying any Presidential address. This administration must revisit some of its outlandish proposals, reevaluate the nation's advice and recycle a failed plan that seems already ancient, if it doesn't want to ultimately be marginalized. The President should, but probably won't, make it clear-out with the old plan which will never be accepted by a majority of American people and in with a new effort encompassing many of their suggestions. If this approach is ignored by the administration a political earthquake is coming, and the electorate, not the Richter scale, will determine its ferocity.

Dr. Alan Phillips