This has been floating around the web since yesterday, so here you go:

First, it’s kind of shocking to me that Obama’s team would allow this woman to get up there and appear to bring the President to task for his administrations flaws, shortcomings, and failures.  But then I listened to just the question she asked, “Is this my new reality?”  Taken in the context of her description of her situation, especially with this line:

I had been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class. I’m one of those people and I’m waiting, sir. I’m waiting. I don’t feel it yet, and I thought that — while it wouldn’t be in great measure — I would feel it in some small measure.”  So, when the question was submitted before the event, it most likely read something like “Mr. President, what have you done to ease the economic woes facing the middle class?

That’s a nice little softball of a question to start out the Q & A session with, “Mr. President, would you please go ahead and tell me about the things that you’ve done?”  And that’s exactly why it WAS the first question.  It’s just that the lady happened to throw in a little curve of her own by relating her personal story and the “I’m one of your middle-class Americans, and quite frankly I’m exhausted. I’m exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now” line that really made this relevant.  You can actually tell that Obama was surprised by the statement when he seems to scoff at the idea that he needs defending (at about 0:36).  (Okay, maybe not a scoff per se, but at least a bit of a nervous laugh)

Then Obama responds:

It’s pretty interesting that it takes him nearly a minute to actually respond to the lady’s question.  I guess when you don’t have teleprompters there to read off of, forming a coherent thought might take a while.  (At least when they’re not out to ruin you…)  Then, when Obama finally does get down to actually attempting to answer the lady’s question, he glosses over her actual question to get back to the one he was prepped for (see above).  This lady was talking about her kids going to private school, money getting tighter, etc., and what does Obama respond with?  Student loans?

Okay, I’ll concede that one, because at least he tried.  The lady does have 2 daughters (1 of whom is close to college age).  But he completely lucked out on that one – what if the kids were in elementary school?  Then talking about student loans helping this specific lady (remember, she asked if this was her new reality, not the new reality for middle-class Americans, or even just Americans), would not really be relevant to things his administration has done that would help her.

Moreover, I don’t quite understand how channeling money that would go to educational lending institutions directly to students would really help all that much anyway.  The federal government (rightly or wrongly) already provides money, through said lending institutions, for college education.  Why would it be better to not do so through the institutions, which already have the expertise and experience necessary to do so efficiently and effectively, and instead use the behemoth that is the federal government to do so?  Wouldn’t that be a waste of money that would be better spent on giving individuals the opportunity to attend college? Anyway, just as much as this argument has nothing to do with Obama’s specific answers to the lady, neither did his next answer.

Obama then goes on talking about changes credit cards.  But the lady doesn’t even have a credit card! Oh well, it matters less that Obama actually answers the question the lady asked than it does for him to remember the speaking points his aides prepared for him based on the approved, submitted questions.  So, when this lady had clearly laid out her situation (at least for the most part), and her frustration with him, Obama merely laid out three things that his administration has actually done over the last 21 months for the middle class (I didn’t really feel like going into the third item, his administration’s invasion into the right of contract between mortgage companies and potential homeowners and the fact that they didn’t lessen the government’s invasion into the loan qualification process in the first place).

Now I can understand this lady’s frustration – she’s still his supporter, even though she’s exhausted, but when she asked him for more fodder to back up her support of him, Obama named three quick items that have been passed – to get more people into college (which I don’t actually think is a good thing anymore, but I’ll go more into that one day), to lessen the amount a credit card company can charge in interest on lines of credit and how they can go about changing those interest rates, and limiting the power of mortgage companies to try and deal with the fact that the federal government is forcing them to lend to very high risk individuals (namely by permitting ARMs and other mortgage schemes, i.e. 110% financing, etc.).  Where’s the rest?  I mean this guy has both houses of Congress in his hands, was elected with some “mandate of the people,” and the blessing of the world.  All he could do to help middle class Americans were three things, which most, apparently, can’t even feel?!  Maybe there’s something to say for the fact that, unlike their Presidents, Americans take the least amount of vacation in the industrialized world – they actually get things done.

Oh well President Obama, it’s nothing another vacay to a middle-class type of locale (like say, the Hamptons?) won’t help you recharge and figure out.  Then, maybe you could write a book about it and get it published just in time for your retirement party January 23, 2013.  Consider this my RSVP.  Oh, and I’ll bring the beer.