A vocal minority of Kossacks, myself included, has hammered the President over what he has done (keeping Pfc. Bradley manning in prison), and not done (letting Bush criminals off the hook). I can’t change what I wrote, but I am willing to rethink my opinion of him. I still don’t think he’s a progressive, or a liberal, or even a centrist. He is a conservative, more content with letting things roll, than providing strong leadership. But he did do a phenomenal job in nailing Osama bin Laden.
For what it’s worth, there are two articles about him that appeared recently and show what kind of person he is, not what he will become. The first was Dave Horsey’s editorial about Obama being a hang loose Hawaiian (my post 7 Feb 2011). The second was a NY Times Magazine article discussing his mother's biography by Janny Scott http://www.nytimes.com/... about his early experience in Indonesia. As a child, he was subjected to racial epithets, but was described so: “He has the manners of Asians and the ways of Americans — being patient, calm, a good listener. If you’re not a good listener in Indonesia, you’d better leave.” Another friend said of his mother Ann Dunham: “Sometimes when she talked about Barack, she’d say, ‘Well, my son is so bright, he can do anything he ever wants in the world, even be president of the United States.’ I remember her saying that.”
In another Times piece, we read the following: “Not so paradoxically, it was his mother who gave him the bedrock belief that ’beneath our surface differences, we’re all the same, and that there’s more good than bad in each of us. And that, you know, we can reach across the void and touch each other and believe in each other and work together.’” “That’s precisely the naïveté and idealism that was part of her,” (Obama) added. “And that’s, I suppose, the naïve idealism in me.”
So there you have it.
We have a president who looks at the world as an optimist and who believes that people are basically good. As I said in the title, President Obama won’t change and that leaves me exasperated. But I am willing to rethink my ideas about him. I just wanted to share this with fellow Kossacks who might feel the same way.