A little math

[The Straight Story]

The President (rounding a bit here)

9 Months @ 30days/month = 270 days

6480 Hours

8 Hours sleep + 1 hour (prep for bed, shower, dressing, eating)

= 4050 hours left to work on issues, meeting with dignitaries, giving out awards, etc.

Break those up into how many issues there and how many departments there are (I got up to 249 here and stopped at the letter G, but it also includes some state info - http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml )in the federal government (fema, Indian Affairs, DOT, Marines, Army, Environment, etc, etc, etc) , add in how many states there are and governors with their own issues, toss in all the members of congress, large and small companies, etc and so on.

Throw in media time, foreign issues, meetings with staff, time with family.

And you probably end up with president having very little time to focus on an issue that you may spend much of your own time focusing on.

And if he does spend a lot of time on an issue (health care, wars, economy) he will have a lot less time to spend on things like saving the red woods, cloning, and so on.

We can look to Obama to lead, but I think we also need to lead ourselves and focus a lot of energy (not saying you don't already) on congress at both the federal and state level, as well as other officials who have the power to change things (which is a bit of a tricky spot in some ways - sometimes they have the power to change things, other times they need laws passed so it helps to know who to complain to based on what they are able to accomplish in their given role).

At any rate, it is no wonder we always have people mad at a president and don't think he (or eventually she) cares about what they care about because they don't spend much time focusing on it.

Just not enough time for any one person to do so.

That is why we have DU ;)

[knowbody0]

1. i love math

[bluestateguy]

2. Sometimes I think people forget that the President is not the only person running the government

Why we have the Congress, and all the other executive branch departments and agencies, as well as state and local governments.

[MindandSoul]

3. Good post! Good and fair analysis

So, now we have the proof that our President is not indifferent to such issues as gay rights. . .he just is swamped by URGENT business, like health care reform, so it won't fail.

And health reform would benefit all of us, including the gay community. I am certain that President Obama will address the gay rights before the end of his 4 years term. . .just in case he doesn't get re-elected. But. . .give him a break!