I love to watch infomercials. Yes, those horridly made, blatantly truth-distorting, ridiculously entertaining jewels of the free market. They push us to buy crap we don’t need but might want for three easy payments of $29.99. The worst ones are those that sell weight loss pills, using pseudo-scientific jargon to try to convince you that you can lose 40 pounds by eating only butter, as long as you gobble their pills along with it. The logical person in all of us knows that they are most likely lying and that you probably still need diet and exercise to lose weight. But the optimist in all of us cheerfully responds, “Wouldn’t it be so cool if it were true? It couldn’t hurt to try it.” Thus, we arrive at the approximately $1.7 billion Americans spend on weight loss pills annually.

So why haven’t we learned our lesson? We want to choose the easy way out. This optimistic “quick fix” mentality has polluted our political thought in addition to our weight-loss habits. At this point, little doubt exists regarding what has caused the economic recession, but the debate still rages about what to do about it (at least the Republicans in Congress think so). Most of us knew Bush wouldn’t make an effort to clean up the mess he helped create, so we waited for the magical date of Jan. 20 when all our problems would be fixed. At the back of our minds, we knew he wouldn’t fix everything right away, but for some reason we optimistically believed kittens would fall from the sky covered in rainbows made of chocolate.

While I believe optimism can help a leader maintain his vision, unbridled optimism alone is not a means to achieve political goals. When Obama stepped into the Oval Office, we thought his economic stimulus plan would fly through Congress. Of course, politicians would now reach across the aisle to save America while singing “Imagine” with a resurrected John Lennon, all while hopped up on hope steroids. But the older, crustier parts of Washington did not change with the new President. Republicans decried the bill, citing wasteful pork spending while reciting their lower-taxes mantra and praying to Ronald Reagan. And the current compromise on the bill removes many of the state-aid programs that would be some of the most effective economic stimuli.

We naturally want to believe the quick fix will work, since millions have already lost their homes and jobs. If we wait, the situation will worsen. Honestly though, Obama is still adjusting to his new position (his chair still has Bush’s imprint), and he still has much to learn. People are criticizing his reticence to stop the Republican offensive on this stimulus, but give the man some time to implement the proper economic plan.

We watched the Obama infomercial these past months, but we missed the point. We treat him like the $90 quick fix drug for America’s economy, when we should think of him as our personal trainer, encouraging a regimen of fiscally responsible diet and exercise, albeit an expensive one. Obama himself told us that we had a long, difficult path to recovery ahead of us, and we should have listened. Or bought a Bowflex instead.

McCormick freshman Ethan Ensler can be reached at [email protected].