Sumer is icumen in,
Lhude sing cuccu!
Groweþ sed and bloweþ med
And springþ þe wde nu,
Sing cuccu!
Awe bleteþ after lomb,
Lhouþ after calue cu.
Bulluc sterteþ, bucke uerteþ,
Murie sing cuccu!
Cuccu, cuccu, wel þu singes cuccu;
Ne swik þu nauer nu.
Pes:
Sing cuccu nu. Sing cuccu.
Sing cuccu. Sing cuccu nu!
Why print this old “cuccu” poem here? I just thought it still had enough buoyant power to help lift America into new Renaissance after almost two decades of Capital Dark Ages. And as the poem reminds us, summer is coming in.
Also, after only a few months of the convening of a Republican-dominated House of Representatives, America has already become a happier, more summery place. Employment in America is finally on the way up, even if haltingly and cautiously so. The private sector is finally starting to seriously hire new employees, even if haltingly and cautiously so. Even President Obama – who really had nothing to do with any of these results but benefits from them – has had his popularity rise since he bottomed out in the 2010 Congressional elections..
How is all this happiness taking place? A lot has to do with the fact that that President Obama is no longer driving that car he said he pulled out of the ditch when he became president. Instead, the Republican House of Representatives has taken over the car as President Obama’s designated driver. And like anyone who is too intoxicated to drive safely – especially those who are intoxicated with too many government solutions – Obama has personally benefitted from having a designated driver steer that car more correctly.
I don’t really blame President Obama for all his legislative wreckage in the first two years of his presidency. I blame the American voter for putting this inexperienced statesman into office along with electing hundreds of Democrat “yes men” in Congress in 2008 to cheer on each of Obama’s blind government lunges.
President Obama like most presidents in history is practically totally unlearned in the subject of private business. The last thing any president in this situation needs is an election mandate like Obama received in 2008. Rare indeed is the president who is enough of a leader to take an election mandate and work it positively for America, The only presidents I knew who could do that in my lifetime were Eisenhower and Reagan.
Lyndon Johnson was practically ruined by his landslide mandate in 1964 over Barry Goldwater. Then Richard Nixon was totally, epically destroyed after his landslide over George McGovern in 1972. Like Nixon, Bill Clinton performed all of his positive accomplishments in his first term after a narrow victory over George H.W. Bush in 1992. Then Clinton did so many things wrong after his landslide victory over Bob Dole in 1996 that he was almost thrown out of office.
Similarly, after the narrowest victory in history over Al Gore in 2000, George W. Bush covered all of the bases in one of the most turbulent presidential terms since World War II. But then after his landslide victory over John Kerry in 2004, somehow everything in Bush’s domestic and economic position blew all over the place, enabling Obama to come out of nowhere to become president.
Average guys need an opposition party
All in all, the average president needs a two-party-system much more than he needs a mandate – not just for balance but for honest guidance and protection.
So why specifically are things looking better this year? I believe it is largely because Obama no longer has a herd of Democrat minions in the House of Representatives cheering on each one of his rookie reactions.
There is another reason why things are looking up. The private sector is suddenly finding backing for the free enterprise system in Congress.
Howard Hughes supposedly said success in the free enterprise system required two main elements – brains and cojones. I am using here the Spanish version of the anatomical word Hughes actually used so as not to offend any of my relatives who might be reading this.
You cannot suddenly get rich in the socialist system, unless you do it illegally, but you can get rich relatively suddenly in the free market. Yet as exhilarating as the free market is – surely no one has ever described socialism or communism as exhilarating – like any true adventure it can also be scary, fraught with risk and danger.
So I can understand why during the first two years of the Obama administration the private sector hesitated to offer jobs to people. As much as anyone in the private sector wants to grow and create an empire of employees, it is much more than normally scary to hire people when your own government is working against you. And by the tone of Obama’s rantings and ravings against business in his first two years – and with Obama’s Congresssional “yes men” adding choral rantings and ravings behind him – I understand why America’s businesses would wait until they had some more friends in Washington before they went out on a limb and hired a new person.
Today, as American hiring is starting to finally pick up with all the new Republicans in Washington, there is every reason to sing “cuckoo” as summer is coming in.
Chris Sharp- Commentary
Chris Sharp is an Educator and a prize-winning professional writer. He has recently published a new book titled “Dangerous Learning: The New Schooling in California.” His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.