Stuck in a Time Warp

                             "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."
                                                                                         - Isaiah 43:18 NIV


Last month, during a visit to the Westminster Abbey in London, President Barack Obama signed the guest book with a warm message, "“It is a great privilege to commemorate our common heritage, and common sacrifice.” and dated it May 24, 2008.

There lies America's trouble. Our President is stuck in a time warp.

The year 2008. It was a magical year for then-Senator Obama. With soaring words, he inspired his listeners, even giving some of them tingles in their legs. Fainting audience was a common occurence in his rallies.Throngs of supporters and fans followed wherever he appeared. He rode the wave of admiration of people from all walks of life, from all corners of the world. Every word he spoke carried much weight like they were words from God. He was called the Second Coming of God, The Messiah, The One. For a nation (and the world) eager to close eight years of  George W. Bush's cowboy presidency, Mr. Obama was seen as the political savior, a perception that Team Obama eagerly embraced and did nothing to discourage.

Some people love the idea of burying time capsules, putting some of their mementos in a box or a bottle, leaving the future generations a peek on how people in the past lived. The mainstream media wasted nothing in encapsulating every detail of President Obama's golden public moments. They documented his every speech, every move, even his glistening pectorals. But the president should have taken himself out of the time capsule. He belongs here, not in a memory box, and must do the job that he sought to do.

In these tough times, it is alright to look back once in a while to good-old-days for inspiration. President Obama is, by all means, entitled to reminisce the glory of the year 2008 but the sounds of thunderous applause of the adoring crowds must NOT drown out the real-time voices of everyday Americans pleading him to deliver on his words. The President promised to focus like a laser on job creation but right now, the unemployment rate stands at a dismal 9% (despite the $800 billion stimulus package that he promised would keep unemployment rate below 8%). President Obama promised  fiscal responsibility yet his fellow Democrats in Congress has not produced a budget in two years. What household in America can survive without a budget? Americans never fancied the individual mandate on Obamacare yet he crammed it down out throats then turned around and handed out 1000+ waivers to the same people and groups who fought for the Obamacare to be passed.  He promised to end the bitter partisanship in Washington but talks of moats and alligators and "rewarding your friends and punishing the enemies" do nothing to heal but only heightens the division among political parties and their supporters. America is crying out for the government to stop spending money that we do not have. We cannot keep on borrowing money from China without choking our own economy to bankruptcy.

It's 2011, two and a half years into the president's term. Americans are saying: "Enough of the rhetorics, Sir, get off the campaign mode. Please do not dwell in the past, roll up your sleeves and get to work."