Brother President, you are breaking my heart.
I knew this day would arrive, so I cannot say the speech at West Point was a surprise. But anticipating the inevitable does not soften the blow. I fear that December 1, 2009 marked the moment when history answered the question posed in May, 2007 by the poet Darian Dauchan in his moving poem to Barack Obama:
When will your demons come to light?
When will your skeletons creep from the closet?
Slip and say the wrong things?
Start compromising yourself
your ideals
your integrity
until there is nothing left of you.
Because you know as well as I do
that great people with good intentions
have lost their souls in the process.
Fighting for freedom
but in the end settling for power.
Watching the speech at West Point, I recalled the words from Blunt's song and they seemed so appropriate.
"I see no bravery, no bravery in your eyes anymore..."
"...only sadness."