2010 voters missed great opportunity

Don Ellis, Henderson

Saturday, Aug. 13, 2011 | 2:03 a.m.

In 2008, during President Barack Obama’s election victory rally, tears of joy ran down the faces of millions of “yes we can” supporters. At that time, the middle class rejoiced and cheered for political change.

In 2010, many of these supporters were dismayed and refused to vote because timid Democrats failed to enact the desired single-payer health care plan. The escalation of the Afghanistan War was also unpopular. This gave the corporate Tea Party the chance to bash all of the president’s accomplishments.

I admit I was not happy with some of the compromises, but I did not sit on the sidelines. I did my civic duty and voted, and it sure wasn’t for any corporate-backed Tea Party.

The biggest mistake the president made was allowing the Bush tax cuts to be extended. If Obama just let the tax cuts lapse, he and the Democrats could have pushed for more tax relief for those making under $250,000 a year. This could have been a win-win situation that would have crushed any opponents of the “yes we can” movement.

It is easy to be an armchair quarterback and say if the 2008 supporters would have voted in 2010, we would not have a divided government, which created an unnecessary debt crisis and the unemployment rate could be a lot lower.

I believe if Obama’s 2008 supporters had voted, the Tea Party’s bags would have dried out, and Congress would not have a 14 percent approval rating.