As President Obama prepares to deliver his annual State of the Union address, it is timely to reflect on his first year in office.   Here are some reflections from a member of the silent independent majority, the same independent force that was instrumental in making history on November 4, 2008 through electing President Obama as the first individual of African descent to occupy the White House and, conversely, the same voter base that challenged the mandate that was assumed by the current leaders of Congress.

Fifteen years ago my better half and I were living and working in Southeastern Europe and decided to take a short break down to one of the more popular Greek islands.   I had a close colleague who was the local manager of a well known express delivery company.  Before the trip he gave me one of his company t-shirts.  I wore it one day when we were out sightseeing on the island.   The t-shirt was mostly white with the company logo and motto “We keep your promises.”   We asked someone to take a picture of us at a particularly attractive spot on the island overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.   As several tourists passed by, they saw me in the logo shirt and asked us if we were filming a commercial.   While it was a flattering question, we both decided to keep our day jobs.

Fifteen months ago President Obama made history.  His victory speech in Chicago is now etched in stone and will, no doubt, long be remembered.  In particular, I will always remember the credit that he gave to President Lincoln as a frontrunner for the Republican Party during a time period of intense division in the United States.  In Lincoln’s words, “We are not enemies, but friends …. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”    President Lincoln knew how to make a point efficiently.  While his famous Gettysburg Address was only 246 words, it included an important truth that resonates as much today as it did 150 years ago – “that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

President Obama embraced this concept of participative government in his speech when he said, “to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices.  I need your help, and I will be your president, too.”  Last week I wrote about the dangerous trap that politicians often fall into – the assumption that an election result gives them a mandate to pursue their platform without regard for the “silent majority” (see So Much For Mandates).

On election day President Obama acknowledged his need for “help” from those who had not voted for him.  How well has he done in reaching out to those voters?   Here are my observations (grades) on his performance.

A – Accepting the Challenge.   Nobody questions the reality that President Obama inherited a challenging set of circumstances, including wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a need for focusing more attention on the environment, and an economic crisis.   He deserves an “A” for aspiring to this critical leadership position during these troubled times.

B – Beginning on the Right Foot.  I applaud President Obama’s victory speech and his humble acknowledgement that he needs the help of everyone.  The challenges facing our nation and the world today simply can not be addressed in a purely partisan fashion.  It is our responsibility to hold him and the leaders in Congress to this pledge.

C – Creative Economic Incentives.  The Car Allowance Rebate System (www.cars.gov) or “Cash For Clunkers” was a creative government program that helped consumers in an environmentally conscious manner.  While economists continue to debate the actual benefits of this program, I give the program at least a “C” for creativity.

D – Delegating Leadership to Congress.   Although the President earned a “B” above for at least beginning on the right foot, it is now clear that he abandoned his pledge to all of you who did not vote for him to “be your president, too.”  The healthcare debacle is a perfect case in point.  Rather than reaching across the aisle to Republicans, he confined his negotiations to members of his own party.   He should learn two valuable lessons from this mistake.   First, as he should have learned all too well earlier this month, there can be severe consequences associated with reneging on his election day promise to all voters.  Secondly, it is sometimes easier to attract moderate Republicans than it is to bow down to more extreme Democrats.    It is common knowledge that the compromises that the Obama administration had to offer to a small group of Democrats in order to get to 60 votes not only prevented every Republican in the Senate from supporting this bill, but also called into question any semblance of “change” that he promised to bring to  Washington.

E – Exaggerating Circumstances.   Okay, this is where I admit that my eyes are beginning to glaze over and I am starting to yawn.  In his victory speech President Obama alluded to “the worst financial crisis in a century.”   I was born in 1960, only a few years before President Obama.   When I finished college in 1982, I don’t recall the economic situation at that time being all too different from what we experienced in 2008.   My first car loan was at 18%.   I lost my job twice during my first two years out of college because of poor economic conditions in Maine.   My father was laid off from his job in a textile mill at least four times in the late 1970s and early 1980s before the mill was finally closed.   I remember high gas prices and long lines at the pump.   In short, one could argue that President Reagan inherited an equally challenging set of circumstances in 1980.  The main difference is that President Reagan reached across the aisle to Democrats in order to push through his important economic stimulus plan.   This included former Democratic Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, who was elected to his first term as Senator from Maine the same year the President Reagan was elected.

F – Frustrating Moments.  I confess that my most frustrating and fearful moment with the Obama Administration over the past year was the infamous Beer Summit.    Why President Obama chose to inject himself into this pure conflict of interest related to his friend, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., is beyond me.   His uninformed and rash comments concerning the work of Sergeant James Crowley, an individual who had been honored by his police colleagues for his success in race relations, was unfortunate.

This evening President Obama will reflect on his first year in office and remind us all of the challenging issues he inherited and what his administration has done to address these concerns.   This is his job and is to be expected.   As voters it is our job to remind President Obama and all of our elected officials that  “we keep your promises” in mind when we enter the voting booth.

So, Maine voters need to pay close attention to the stump speeches that the numerous gubernatorial candidates vying for the Blaine House make during both the primaries and general election.   When these promises are broken, follow the lead of the “independent majority” in Massachusetts.

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