Two Great Progressive Initiatives That Aren't Being Touted By the Obama Administration

Why isn't the Obama Administration touting great policy initiatives that would be popular with Americans...initiatives that are either underway or close to being implemented? To me it's more proof of what I have mentioned before... Obama has lost control of his agenda and his Presidency. It has been hijacked by Liberal fringe interests. All we have been hearing about over the last few months is Gay Marriage, Don't Ask Don't Tell, Gitmo and Torture. I'm not suggesting that these issues aren't important. Certainly they are of primary interests and importance to a few. But these issues have hijacked the spotlight and the Obama Administration at the expense of other interests...that are of primary importance to a very large part (likely a majority) of the Country. This is what I warned about in a couple of previous posts.

There are currently two important initiatives flying under the radar- one I heard about in a 5 second radio news clip a couple of months ago...(and hadn't heard anything else since). The initiative has to do with the Obama Administration pushing the idea of guaranteeing sick leave for American workers. Roughly half of all private sector workers (yours truly included) don't get any sick leave.... no paid leave at all. Without sick time you can't take care of a family member and you can't take care of yourself. I used to have paid sick leave at the same workplace, but when the business was taken over several years ago by a cut-throat company... workers lost paid sick leave. Even when I had the paid sick days (which amounted to about 5 days a year) I rarely took them. I would take 1 day every 18 months to 2 years. Even then I would usually go to work sick. Now I have no choice. Missing just one day puts me behind- a consequence of being in the "working class". But I liked the way things were before because I at least had the option. It's bad enough that I have inadequate health coverage...and practically have no health care program to speak of and have no doctor, but things are magnified even more when I can't afford to get sick and can't take a day off to even see a doctor (which ends up creating delays that make health conditions worse).

Obama is crazy for not having this kind of initiative (which is a political winner on top of just being the right thing to do) at the top of his agenda. Touting this initiative would be PR gold IMO. And he would probably be able to win a fight with Congress on that issue....and use it as a victory. I believe he tried to sneak this into the Tobacco Bill, but Republicans made him take it out (although I may be mistaken). But why is he being quiet and sneaky about such good legislation...about something that the voters would get behind him on?

The second initiative is one that apparently is already going to happen. It has to do with providing relief for those who have student loan debt, and it even includes provisions for loan forgiveness. Again... PR gold for Obama. But there's just one problem. No one has heard about it! I was certainly not aware of it... and i'm drowning in student loan debt. In fact, i'm pretty much facing Financial Armageddon because of student loans. I'm months away from Bankruptcy... although Bankruptcy won't clear my student loan debt. But the fact is... the Bankruptcy would clear my other debts...allowing me to deal with the student loans. Granted...the student loan initiative would not cover every borrower... because there are so many different kinds of student loans (too many.... I have at least 5 different kinds myself). But it would provide me with a few more options and might be able to help a little. And when you're dealing with Financial Armageddon, you'll take whatever help you can get.