March: a month that most in America welcome with open arms. It’s the time of year when the world around us comes back to life and we are pulled out of the dreary depths of winter. For one person however, March has not been all sunshine and rainbows. That person is the “chosen one” himself, Barack Obama.

The month of March has seen Obama’s seemingly bright light of hope dim considerably in many ways.

First off, the American public is now becoming aware of just how much the price tag for change will be — and we’re talking trillions. From bailing out every Tom, Dick and Harry on Wall Street, to giving CEOs of bailed-out companies bonuses and finally enacting Cap and Trade policies, which will kill almost any business looking to actually succeed. If all of this wasn’t enough, now he’s got his Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Congress trying to figure out what exactly the heck is in that budget they passed.

Basically, it’s like the Obama administration is the JV squad going up against the state champions — and seeing as how this isn’t a Disney movie, I don’t think it will end too well.

However, all of these slip-ups are overshadowed by the biggest embarrassment for Obama in the month of March, and that is his NCAA Bracket. With all the second-round games done and the Sweet 16 ready to be played, Obama’s bracket is sitting at 53.20 percent. Now some of you may say Obama’s bracket not being accurate isn’t a very big deal, and I would agree with you normally — until you look into the numbers and the picks and find some downright disturbing truths.

By now it is well known that what Obama and his flock of nearly mindless followers want to see most during this year is “Hope and Change.” Now all of that is good, but what is shocking about Obama’s bracket is that it shows neither hope nor change.

As far as hope goes, Obama only picked hope four times. What this means is that he only picked four upsets in the first two rounds — and one of those was an eight seed versus a nine seed, which isn’t that gutsy at all.

If Obama wanted to display true hope, he would have a bracket full of “Hoosier” style upsets, but alas, he let us down.

Change is as far from his bracket as hope is. Obama picked the University of North Carolina Tarheels to win it all. While this will prove to be true, it is not change at all. This is the same type of thing we saw during the Bush years, with the typical, already championship-rich schools getting richer, and the rest sent home with nothing to show.

Would it have been so hard for Obama to pick the Hilltoppers of Western Kentucky to win it all and totally change the system of NCAA Men’s Basketball?

The answer is of course no, but Obama went on with the status quo and left his campaign promises in the dust.

As someone who did not support Obama, I am still a little bit sad to see his dreams of hope and change already starting to dwindle. I mean, if he has no hope to spare for the NCAA bracket, what hope could he possibly have for pulling us out of this recession into which he seems to enjoy digging us?

Shame on you, Obama. But more importantly, GO TARHEELS!

 — Justan Spaid is a sophomore in history from McCallsburg.