Sometimes you're damned if you do, and sometimes you're damned if you don't. Nothing describes President Barack Obama's first year in office better than that. His critics, like El Rusho and his Rushovites, have admitted they want and expect the president to fail. Naturally, every chance they get, they plunge the dagger deeper.

But, like a good father, sometimes a president has to say things that are not popular to keep his house in order. His recent attacks on the banking corporations and Wall Street are long overdue. Much of the mess he inherited was caused by them way before he set foot into the presidency.

And the Grand Old Party of No — of no solutions — can hardly wait to find an excuse to go on the attack with the assistance of their pit bulls Hannity and Limbaugh. Yet, if you listen to them as spokesmen for the right, their rants and raves rarely offer any solutions or suggestions for solving many of our country's problems, including the health care disaster that threatens to consume our already tiny pay checks.

As citizens, we have every right to criticize our leaders, even though they might consider themselves as sovereigns and almost majestic. The Bush dynasty was an oil-igarchy that needed to be severely criticized for its behavior, especially for its lack of transparency. There were many positive suggestions and solutions for getting us out of the Iraqi mess, but also other situations that the eight-year Bush administration created. But because that administration was all about ideology, it lacked leadership, and anything out of that ideological realm fell on deaf ears.

Much like Nixon and Agnew, if you were an intellectual or had an intelligent thought or solution, or if you even questioned a Nixon or Bush policy, you were relegated to the ranks of the disloyal to your country. Much like the moronic reaction, "My country, love it of leave it," there was little tolerance for those who wanted a progressive change for the better of the country and its citizens.

What is disturbing is that some liberals are saying that Obama has turned out to be a "disappointment." I say he's only been in power for a year, and the little power to produce progressive change is greatly limited by a number of forces, including an inherited deficit, a banking and insurance scandal that has almost destroyed our nation, an inept Congress and two wars. Unfortunately, Obama is not a saint, but a mere man.

The truth of the matter is that both the House and the Senate have a lot of deadwood that is rotten to the core because of corporate lobbyists who have gone amok in Washington. In essence, political payoffs have castrated our elected officials into submission. Americans have every right to be angry, but it's not Obama's policies at fault. It is the failure of Congress to act on behalf of the American people instead of lobbyists. As the final insult, this conservative Supreme Court has given corporations and their lobbyists carte blanche to continue the castration of Congress.

Just to show you how bad things are amongst politicians, take the recent example of the reaction to Obama's recent remarks concerning people making tough decisions on spending.

"When times are tough," Obama said, "you don't go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. ...You don't blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you're trying to save for college. You prioritize, you make tough choices."

Well, like a good father, he was only looking out for the citizens of this country, but the mayor of Las Vegas lashed out, "I'll do everything I can to give him the boot."

It's special interests like these that keep this country's elected leaders beholden to the lobbyists. Personally, I think Obama was right about the gambling. Ask the "lady" in southern Colorado who has been accused of embezzling $1.5 million from the local school system so she could support her nasty gambling habit. It's too bad she didn't listen to the president's advice.

And although the president means well, he too needs to tighten Washington's belt, especially the pork that's rampant from Washington. Despite all that, I pray for Mr. Obama because to bring back the Party of No would be even worse.

Writer/historian Orlando Romero may be reached at nambe1@aol.com.