“NO”! Mr President, you might be hating this word more than anything else in the world, don’t you?
Over the past few months United States of America’s President Barack Obama has faced a severe criticism from all sides. Being it a domestic or an international issue Mr President heard only one word “NO”, whenever he approached Democrats, Republicans, the Congress or to the people who chose him as their President for the second time.
Let us start with Obama’s decision to nominate his favourite Lawrence Summers to hold reins of the Federal Reserve after the Chairman Ben Bernanke leaves his office on January 31, 2014. Obama was criticised and opposed by all including his own Democrats. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats were ready to imagine Summers in the chair and were in favour of Janet Yellen to head the central bank. Obama would have faced tough fight over his decision to nominate Summers and ended up losing, but in the meantime Larry Summers saved Obama’s dignity when he withdrew himself from the race by a letter sent to Mr Obama.
In the letter Mr Summers said: “I have reluctantly concluded that any possible confirmation process for me would be acrimonious and would not serve the interest of the Federal Reserve, the administration or, ultimately, the interests of the nation’s ongoing economic recovery.”
Finally, with no option in hand and due to ongoing combat over government spending and debt ceiling in Washington during that time, President Barack Obama on October 9, 2013, nominated Federal Reserve’s Vice Chair Janet Yellen to run the world's most influential central bank, praising her consensus-building skills.
Before that President Barack Obama’s decision to strike on Syria and punish President Bashar al-Assad (who is accused of using chemical weapons against his own countrymen and killing more than 1400 civilians) was put down by the Congress and the American citizens. Obama was continuously trying to impress Republicans and his own Democrats to give a green signal for the strike. This time Russia appeared as a saviour (by making Syria agree to an international agreement to destroy or remove its stockpiles and weapons) and once again Mr President was saved from the chagrined of his fruitless efforts to get a YES for the strike on Syria.
ObamaCARE seems to be ObamaRARE
Starting from March, 2010 when Mr President signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or "Obamacare, there has been continuous resistance from the Republicans (and also a few of Democrats).
There has always been a big NO from Republicans for the launch of Obamacare. Recent partial government shutdown (October 1 to October 16) and Washington’s fight over debt ceiling which dragged the world’s biggest economy to the brisk of default, was an upshot of Republicans’ discrepancy for Obamacare. Republicans have continuously been arguing for postponement of the launch of Obamacare on the grounds that the law would Obamacare was finally launched on October 1, 2013 the very first day of partial government showdown. The same day technology appeared to join the opposition by saying “NO” to Obama.
Healthcare.gov, the website designed to let Americans compare and buy affordable insurance plans was crashed within a few hours of its launch on October 1. Almost one and a half months are over and Obama and his administration are still battling fix the flaws of Healthcare.gov. On the other hand, millions of citizens are affected by the Obamacare. Many are complaining that they are not able to keep their old policies or register for a new one using the defected website. Republicans are encouraging US citizens to register their complaints and employing the same to raise their voice against the law.
Finally, on Thursday, October 7th, President Barack Obama apologized to those Americans whose insurance plans are being cancelled due to the federal health law he championed even though he said repeatedly they could keep their coverage if they liked.
"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," he told NBC News in an exclusive interview.
"We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this," he added.
