He said, She said?

I agree with your statement that “candidates should be focusing on more pressing issues outlining their stance on issues.” I also believe that our President’s view of the American people is very important.  The President has a whole team of advisors and speech writers.  The words in his speeches are chosen very carefully and probably have to be approved by many staff members and the President himself.  This fact leads me to believe that the President’s feelings are much stronger than the speech leads us to believe.  “Soft” and “lazy” must have been approved by everyone.  It also appears that he repeats the phrase “over the last couple of decades” to point the finger at others and is not accepting any responsibility for the problems Americans are currently facing and the downfall of our economy since this President has taken office.   I also feel that these statements were not “taken out of context”.  Obama was quoted as saying “we've been a little bit lazy” and “this is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft”.  I believe it is very important to have leaders who see our country through the eyes of the people they represent - the people that voted them into their positions – and not try to influence the people to see issues through their eyes.  And… let’s face it, the President will always have to watch what he says. - - that is a huge part of his position is communication.

Obama was recently criticized about his speech over climate change.  I read the article which stated that Obama can only cope with one tricky subject at a time, and that the preference is for him to deal with the healthcare issue - as if climate change can wait... Obama said in his UN speech that “the threat of climate change was serious, urgent and wrong”. It seems a strange series of adjectives in that speech.  Serious and urgent seem appropriate for this issue.  Adding the word wrong sounds like he doesn’t agree that there is a threat and is confusing and misleading.

 I do agree with your statement that “America does have many problems and kinks it needs to work out, having a leader that sees issues and wants to help.” As I said earlier, we need a leader who sees life through the eyes of the people. I am just not confident that in a leader who can only cope with one issue at a time when there are so many issues that need attention. Our society has come to the point where drama is what gets people’s attention and fired up.  As long as Obama continues to speak to the American public in any way that can be construed as negative, the press will use it and so will every comedian and talk show host around the country.  They’re going to continue to criticize the President each and every time he provides them with the material to criticize.  In all campaigns, it is just as important to criticize your opponent and poke holes in his platform as it is to voice your own platform.  It is what gets our society interested. Perry is going to use what Obama keeps feeding him.  We don’t all have to agree with these tactics, but, I don’t see them changing in the near future.