Running for re-election on an impressive record

I extracted the following quote from a Bloomberg.com column:

Obama needs to impress upon voters a narrative of his accomplishments, including overhauling health care, ending the war in Iraq, saving the auto industry and reviving the U.S. economy after the longest recession since the 1930s, said Patrick, a 55-year-old Democrat. He sometimes acts as a campaign stand-in for Obama.

Impressive uh? Who knows? The problem with all politicians is that they claim victory before all the results are in and ignore the consequences of their “accomplishments.” This isn’t unique to Obama by any means, it’s the nature of the political animal and the short-sighted receptivity of the voter targets of their rhetoric.

Will overhauling health care yield long term positive and affordable results? Has the war in Iraq truly ended? What price did we pay to “save” the auto industry and who knows if it was saved or is temporarily on life support? As for the economy you can make your own judgement.

Too bad we can’t see the real results of the “impressive accomplishments” politicians claim until long after they are out of office. There is one exception though, we all saw the results of trying to push home ownership as government policy and Barney Frank and a few friends are still in office. Who could argue that didn’t sound like an impressive accomplishment along the way?