GARFIELD — To the Editor:

Over the past year, some of my acquaintances have asked me if I now regretted voting for Obama. I have consistently told them that I would reserve judgment until Obama had been in office for one year. Since that is only several weeks away, I decided to put my thoughts in writing. Am I pleased with Obama as president?

No. I don’t see any of the change he spoke about when he was running for president. All I see is the same old contemptuous politics as before, only with a donkey running the show rather than an elephant.

Where is the bipartisanship he promised? There is none. What I see are the donkeys saying it’s my way or the highway, and the elephants saying whatever you donkeys propose we are against it. There is absolutely no working together of these two political animals.

The add on to the first question is would McCain have been a better president. Who knows. Frankly, I was on the fence as to who to vote for until McCain picked that ditsy Palen to be his running mate. That’s the best the elephants could come up with? Not that stick your foot in your mouth Biden is much better. So that leaves us with a country that is no better off than when Obama was elected. Sure he inherited a mess from the elephants but he has not shown that he isup to dealing with the mess in a fresh, bipartisan manner. Same old stuff different political animal.

I now sport a bumper sticker that suggests we throw them all out in 2010.

Clean sweep. I’m sure there are one or two conscientious elected officials around but let them go back to the private sector as well. I’d also suggest that one of the first orders of business of the newly elected Congress would be to pass a bill establishing term limits for themselves and restricting access by K Street lobbyists. Maybe then something good would finally happen.

PETE RATHMELL Garfield

Opinion, Pages 4 on 01/13/2010