Dear Editor:
I have followed with interest the reflections and reports on the first 100 days of Barack Obama's presidency. There was always an underlying concern about Mr. Obama's lack of executive experience even before his ideological views were considered. Certainly, over the past 100 days, that lack of experience has been manifested in two specific areas.
The first was the stimulus bill, which is extremely expensive, pork-laden and adding substantially to our already bulging federal deficit. While Mr. Obama and his liberal supporters would like to make a case in the interest of stimulating the economy, I think time and a more serious assessment will demonstrate that much of it was actually a disingenuous effort to circumvent the appropriations process and using the economic crisis as a means of funding a liberal agenda, which they know would be difficult to fund in the usual procedure.
Sadly, this is the first reflection of Mr. Obama's lack of executive experience in that he was unable to lead in an area that is always most difficult for any sitting president --namely to restrain the liberal wing of his own party. At least from Mr. Obama's statements prior to this stimulus bill, many were under the impression that he would be a restraining force to his own party, but the events leading up to that bill only demonstrated that he ended up being a follower to his more experienced liberal colleagues of Capitol Hill, as opposed to being a leader.
