We all recall election night: the rally at Grant's Park, Sean Hannity's head exploding, the moment CNN called Ohio, etc. After the interminable interlude between November and January, Inauguration Day: great speeches; cheering crowds, tears of pride and pictures of Barack and Michelle with their beautiful children.
The White House. Air Force 1. The limos, red carpets, hailing [to] the Chief! Ahh, the perks of power--it must be nice to be President of these United States.
You'd either have to have a pretty strong ego to sit comfortably in that job or you'd have to be an idiot, a sociopath, or combination of those two to pass yourself off as leader of this powerful nation. From what I can observe, Obama is up to the task; his ego is strong, yet proportionate to the job. bush was a sociopath, and not particularly intelligent [I don't believe that he was genetically stupid, just pathologically stupid].
Smart or dumb, a POTUS gets his name in the history books. The world's media treats you as though your life was most important of any on this planet. Every President seems to enjoy the job, to relish the responsibility and power. And yet..
Obama is facing problems no President has faced since FDR. You can see behind his steady gaze that the weight of the position is riding on him. bush sleepwalked through his first 8 months, rousing only long enough to hand out tax cuts. There was no heavy lifting, and even after 9-11 bush's job didn't weigh on him too much: he avoided asking for national sacrifice, instead, herded seething American fear and anger towards more tax cuts and 2 botched wars, breaking America's piggy bank in the process and lighting the fuse on our present economic dilemma.
Progressives are both pleased and upset by the moves Obama has made in his 1st 100 days, displeased particularly for his choices regarding the financial crisis. For me, a 52 yr old disabled man injured 28 years ago while serving my Country overseas, Obama signed the stem cell legislation, and I'm happy. But even I cringe when I read about the billions and trillions being thrown at the current corrupt financial system, as though it could [or should] be salvaged.
Yet, as I've watched the events of the past four months unfold, I have become convinced that Obama fully understands the problems he faces, with regards to his economic choices, and that he has charted a course of action designed to effect the most remedy with the least amount of destruction, given the limits of politics which he must contend with.
Take the so-called 'stress tests' on the banks. Every day we learn a little more about the conditions inside these secretive institutions, some partially true, some baseless rumors. The Markets rise and fall w/ each snippet of information, and lately we have witnessed the banksters engaged in heated denials and finger-pointing as the test information works its way through the news cycles. At the same time we hear progressive voices criticizing Obama from the left, trying to get him to do 'the right thing', and various government figures floating trial balloons which are met with skepticism and/or praise. All of which begs me to ask the question if this cacophony might be orchestrated by Obama, to buy him time and gain the upper hand with the banksters in his quest to right the ship of state.
Obama already has a good idea that in November 2010, the economy will not be nursed back to full health--there is too much debt to work thru the system, private and public. So, Obama knows that the key to holding onto Congress is to push health care reform thru, so that he can show the voters some positive results from his election. In fact, just because Clinton failed so miserably with health care, Obama will reap disproportionately huge rewards by passing such legislation.
So, while the progressive community wrings its hands or, conversely, pats itself on the back with every victory or setback, it might be best to step back and take the long view on the Obama years. Politics is the art of the possible; a bit of chemistry and alchemy; a balancing act that only a balanced person can pull off with aplomb. I am not making excuses for Barack Obama, but I am willing to wait to give him time to gather up the reins on this runaway team of horses that was the bush economy.
POTUS MIGHT be a sweet job, but I wouldn't want it, not for all the perks, not for getting my name in the history books, not for nothing! But I'm ecstatically pleased to see Barack Obama attempt to gather up those reins, and if that takes more than 100 days to accomplish, I'm prepared to eat my popcorn and wait. I invite you all to join me.