COLUMN: Reaction to Obama school speech disturbing

It is even more disturbing that it is the President’s own actions and affiliations that have created such a bitter and vitriolic political atmosphere.

Worse yet is the administration’s dismissive attitude when confronted with the fact that a significant portion of the American electorate believes the President wants to advance his domestic agenda by indoctrinating the youth of this country.

Presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs publicly derided the debate as silly, but one wonders if the President’s advisors are as glib when away from the media spotlight.

At some point, the President and his staff must do some serious soul searching and ask themselves how public opinion of Obama eroded to the point where it is increasingly unlikely that this President will be able to accomplish his legislative goals.

It is a problem when the polls show abysmally low approval ratings. It is quite another when there is genuine fear among voters that the elected leader of the free world is a closet Marxist.

Obama and his advisors can blame conservative pundits for this, but, to do so ignores the root cause of this distrust.

There is no doubt that the President is a talented politician, a gifted speaker and a clever adversary. But he has delusions of political infallibility and, as such, has grossly overestimated the tolerance of a generally moderate electorate.

When confronted by excessive spending, blossoming deficits and highly partisan legislative pushes, even the most moderate of voters – Republican and Democrat alike – will eventually raise an outcry. When the President surrounds himself with advisors of questionable political backgrounds and shows a fundamental disregard for the democratic process, a voter backlash is inevitable.

Is Obama a Marxist bent on converting the youth of this nation to his socialist views? It really does not matter. What matters is that a large number of voters believe he may be. Accepting the resignation of his radical communist czar Van Jones is not nearly enough to assuage those fears.

The President and his liberal advisors need to stop wasting time attacking town hall attendees and tea party goers and address the crisis of confidence that currently plagues this administration.

Perhaps that is exactly what they were trying to do when the White House and the Department of Education asked school children to write letters explaining how they could help the President. Maybe the Obama administration is not trying to indoctrinate children, rather they simply need all the help they can get in order to salvage this presidency.

Lack of trust in this President is not a silly issue, it is a disturbing problem that is only getting worse each day it goes ignored.

Kristi Reed is a reporter for the Barrow Journal. You can reach her at kreed@barrowjournal.com.