Did Obama learn from 1st term?

The party’s over. It’s time to get back to work!

Literally, the inauguration that got spread over a two-day period is now complete. All of our Illinois public officials who felt the need to take a trip to the District of Columbia so they could bask in Barack Obama’s glory (including Gov. Pat Quinn and his possible 2014 challenger state Attorney General Lisa Madigan) need to return to the real world.

PRESIDENT OBAMA HIMSELF is going to have to jolt himself back to the concerns of public policy – because there are serious issues that need to be done.

Firearms seem to be a priority for everybody. For our state Legislature (or maybe even our City Council) may wind up having to take some action if it turns out that Congress is incapable of doing anything of significance.

Which will happen if Obama winds up letting himself get pushed by his ideologue opposition like he did for much of his first term in office.

For all the stupid-talk from those ideologues that Obama is some sort of subversive who stands against every ideal they want to believe this country is about, Obama’s real weakness was that he was at times too willing to make compromise with people who weren’t interested in it.

OBAMA THOUGHT HE’D be buying political good will from people who would then owe him something when serious policies came forth.

Instead, he only got those people all riled up because they took his talk of compromise and showed just how far removed it was from their ideal where they get all. And they weren’t about to credit him for anything he was willing to give that they desired in the first place.

Personally, I have always felt that Obama’s weakness is that one of his closest allies when he served in the Illinois state Senate was Kirk Dillard – the DuPage County pol with a sense of moderation on certain (but not all) social issues.

Perhaps Obama thinks that all Republicans are like the man who couldn’t even win the 2010 GOP primary for Illinois governor. Heck, not all Illinois Republicans are like that.

THIS LINE OF thought caused Obama to have to push aside certain issues and causes that were of a high priority to the people who actually voted for him in 2008 – and again last year.

Obama needs to “Praise Jesus!” that those people despised his Republican opposition so intensely in both election cycles. Because there are those who aren’t in love with the man, and are going to need to be swayed that their vote wasn’t a waste!

Such as the growing Latino population, which is going to be scrutinizing the president closely in coming months to see what he’s willing to do with immigration reform (he can’t postpone it indefinitely any longer) and with his cabinet appointees.

Since he’s now in a situation where he has no Latinos advising him in those top posts. That is a situation he’ll have to rectify – or else!!!!!

AND BACK TO firearms. I realize that the National Rifle Association is spending big bucks on its lobbying efforts to encourage political people to ignore the realities of violent outbursts in public and buy into the reality that a hunter needs to have an automatic rifle when searching for game.

I always thought the point of hunting was to show one was such a good shot that they could kill an animal with one clean shot – instead of needing all 30 rounds in the clip of an AK-47 in order to get one good shot!

But nobody wants to hear that the NRA can’t be overcome. If anything, the majority that twice has put Obama in office did so specifically because we want him to stand up to such people.

ROMNEY: Does anyone care what he did Monday?

There are so many issues like this that will confront our federal government in coming years.

FOR AS MUCH as I often rant and rage about the need for bipartisan compromise, the reality of today is that the ideologues who tried to write history so that the 2010 election cycle (all that trite Tea Party talk) was NOT the aberration that it truly is are going to have to have someone stand up to them.

You had your parties on Sunday and Monday, Mr. President. The quirk of Inauguration Day coming on a weekend gave you an extra day of celebration.

Now, it’s time to see the president and his advisors get back to work. The people are counting on it.

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