No Unity Likely For Obama Agenda

Monday night during a dinner with Congressional leaders, President Obama told them he hopes for unity between the two parties. He said the events like the death of Osama bin Laden bring us together as a national family.

“Last night was one of those moments,” he told the bipartisan group of lawmakers he had invited weeks ago to the White House for dinner. “And so tonight, it is my fervent hope that we can harness some of that unity and some of that prode to confront the many challenges that we still face.”

He wants us to feel the unity we felt as a nation after the attacks of 9/11/01.

He also wants to be re-elected as President of the United States.

Cynical? Maybe. But, who is this guy trying to fool? When has it ever been his nature to work with everyone, to promote a united country? He is a former community organizer and the methods of his presidency are the same as that of a community organizer. He bullys from the Oval Office.

Here's the thing, after 9/11/01, President Bush had support from most Americans during the shock and fear in the aftermath of the attacks. Fully one half of voters were not supportive of the Bush presidency, still bitter about the ruling from the Supreme Court, but Bush trudged on by reaching out to everyone. You may remember that on the morning of 9/11/01, Laura Bush was with Senator Ted Kennedy working on education reform.

There was no reason to doubt the sincerity of President Bush. In their moments of uncertainty and fear, Democrats were willing to come together with Republicans, for the good of the country. President Obama has no such reservoir from which to build.

Even after 9/11/01, Democrats were going to the well of the Senate floor and asking what did Bush know and when did he know it kinds of questions in a matter of days. Hillary Clinton held up a New York newspaper and asked about a bold type headline. Ted Kennedy was bleating out the word quagmire at every opportunity. We haven't forgotten all that unity.

We can all get along, sure. But in Obama world, getting along is going along with his agenda and that is not going to happen. In no time at all, Obama will be back into full campaign mode telling Republicans to sit in the back of the car they drove off a cliff and reminding them "he won". He doesn't know how to encourage unity. He was never in an executive position - such as a Governor - and doesn't know how to work with different views.

Obama will receive praise for the time being. He will be recognized around the world for his actions in taking out bin Laden. Rightly so. But, this is not to be ridden as a campaign booster. We are weary of the continuous campaign that he has pursued since 2007.

If Obama is to rise to the stature of President, now is his time. If successful, he will ride this wave of support for his resolve in eliminating bin Laden and not make us further cynical of his actions.