Like many people, I hope to see President Obama, his administration and a Democratic Congress achieve reform of financial regulations and health insurance, but I think it is truly preposterous of anyone to suggest Obama has not done much or for people to get their panties in a bunch over him winning the Nobel Peace Prize. As my friend said, it’s as if he awarded it to himself.
It’s also worth recounting how much has changed since George W. Bush was president. Remember when George W. Bush was president. Remember what that was like??
A few things that would not have happened one year ago:
Proposed rules to limit greenhouse gases from industrial plants would not have been introduced.
A federal “no-match” rule that threatened employers with prosecution if they continued to employ a person with inconsistencies between their social security and employment records would not have been rescinded.
California would not be allowed to enforce stricter standards for greenhouse gas emissions after the EPA grants it a waiver of preemption under the Clean Air Act. (California had fought the Bush administration EPA on this for years).
The EPA would not take a closer look at mining permits as part of a stricter review of surface mining projects to ensure that they comply with the Clean Water Act.
(Seriously, just do a google news search of “EPA” to see how much has changed in the past nine months).
Rich people who put their money overseas to evade taxes would not be faced with the threat of prosecution if they did not own up and pay fines, providing the U.S. government with an untold amount of revenue.
One could not walk through Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn and see photos of the sitting president of the United States in nearly every store.
The president of the United States would not have even been a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize.
There are probably many other “administrative” decisions, rules and regulations that have been changed since January 20, 2009, most that we do not even realize, and whose impact will at least initially go little noticed. However, the good kind of change is one that incrementally betters our lives rather than jolts us suddenly. That is change we can believe in.
Posted by elainemeyer
Posted by elainemeyer
Posted by elainemeyer