President Obama this morning in Dallas
This morning I had the first opportunity to see President Obama. He was in Dallas doing a little fundraising from us party faithful. And this year, in all my years of following politics, I felt the need (and thankfully, I had some means) to dig a little deeper into my wallet. For this year, I’m truly worried and frightened, like many of us, with the dark and unreasoning mood of conservatives, and of course, their candidates for President.
I guess I should back up a bit. I had seen President Obama once before here in Dallas. Back in 2005, then Senators Reid, Biden, and Obama did a stop here for a Democratic rally. Then, Senator Obama was just beginning to get traction as a rising star in our party. When he was elected President a few years later, I remember how pleased I was in having the opportunity to have seen the President, Vice President, and majority leader in the Senate together a few years before that great election day. I went to President Obama’s election watching party that night in 2008, in the same venue as his stop today in Dallas, and while filled with hope and pride; I had some trepidation that night as to what his Presidency might hold given the historic nature of his election and the mood of conservatives.
While I have had my disagreements with certain decisions and the direction of the President over the years (like I hope all good, open-minded progressives should have at times), as I sat and listened to him this morning expressing the core values of what makes us Democrats---and no---actually citizens who truly believe in our country as to what it is, what it can still become, and how all of us can play a role, as Americans, in the common good for all, I was touched with definite remorse.
That sadness was rooted in how so many of my fellow Texans, acquaintances, and other Americans, have nothing but baseless vitriol towards this true statesman who has uniformly expressed the positive throughout his Presidency, while also largely admired by the world. And how they eagerly see a future with the dark ambitions of a Trump, Cruz, or Rubio.
While I’m biased to be Democrat and a progressive; I have always prided myself with an open mind. But despite the understandable biases of conservatives, I am more than troubled in how I can reconcile myself with folks, now and in the future, that embrace such unwarranted hate and have absolutely no interest in seeing any good in the legacy of our President. This was underscored when I early voted a few weeks back and was one of the lone Democrats casting a vote in the long line of voters in my area of Dallas.
And as I see our President’s approval rating rise a bit in the polls, I have to believe that some voters are realizing, when making comparisons to what is being offered by the Republicans, that our President truly is something that Americans should be proud of.
And while you have another ten months left, Mr. President, we’ll miss you and thank you.
