All people who run for office, every single one, somewhere in their deepest soul, believe they are destined to be president one day. It is in their DNA to expect that the decision facing Barack Obama today not only must, but should, be theirs. That has never applied to Barack Obama.
My take on tonight's speech is here. Thanks to all of you for helping get Barack's back!
The cliche which describes this truth holds that you have to be a little nuts to want to be president. There's a lot to that.
But not long ago, if you were a black man, and you thought you would one day be the President of the United States, you were dismissed as delusional bordering on insane. If you were a black man from a single parent household, and you believed that one day you'd be president, you entered the realm of untreatable psychosis.
Thus, it is a cosmic metaphysical certitude that a black kid from a single parent family named Barack Hussein Obama never, not once, EVER expected he'd be President of the United States. Until America decided he would.
It just so happened that one day, America decided it was time, transforming in a way which to this day still astonishes me. And when that tectonic plate shifted, there was Barack Hussein Obama, ready for a country on the edge of an abyss to place upon him an immeasurable burden of history.
Today this man, on whom the weight of America past, present, and future already sits heavier than on any president before him, announces a decision to clean up a mess so profound, not even the most messianic presidency-seeker would ever wish to be in his shoes.
And yet there are people in his own party who are prepared to not just oppose his decision, but demonize and opportunistically take pot shots at the decision, and at him.
Well, not me.
I don't know why the people who claim to be this president's "base" are so ready to be so vicious to Barack Obama, but I am quite certain they are short-sighted and fighting the wrong battle from an era in which the existence of this presidency was not only unimaginable, but beyond the realm of fantasy.
That era is over.
Period.
There is no better proof of its end than the presidency of Barack Hussein Obama.
As surely as every teabagger now stands in an America they can't recognize, so are you no longer in that previous America.
If today's decision leads to an end to the war in Afghanistan a mere one second later than you'd rather it end, you'll probably say you were right. But this war will end. And it will end on terms decided by this president, who did not want this office, or this decision, or this place in history until his country, and every last one of you, started asking him to take it.
So this American has this president's back. Today, tomorrow, and always.
Who's with me?
UPDATE - It appears to me that most commenters in this thread have neither read nor comprehended this diary except to reinforce whatever outrage they may have at tomorrow's decision. I don't even know whether or not I support what the president says tomorrow, because he hasn't said it yet. All I've said is that I've got his back, no matter what the decision may be, whether I support it in full or not.
Sadly, this nuance is lost on the commenters. Maybe next time I'll write more clearly.
UPDATEx2 - When I went to bed last night, this diary depressed the hell outta me. This morning, there's a little less to be depressed about. Thanks to all who are getting Barack's back with me. We can disagree with a policy, but we need to back this guy up.
Getting Barack's back is NOT the same as blindly supporting war. Not in the least. Blindly supporting war, with zero disagreement, is what Republicans do. Disagreeing with a policy, yet backing your guy up against baseless, vicious personal attcks, is what WE DEMOCRATS DO. And if you can't figure that out, you don't know Barack Obama.
UPDATE x3 - Thanks again to all who joined me in getting our guy's backside. I'll be in a live chat at my blog of residence, Plunderbund, tonight during the speech. Here's my post on what I'm looking for tonight. Hope some of you can join us. Live chats in Ohio blogs can be quite lively!
FINAL UPDATE - Geez, this diary just won't die! Here's my take on the speech tonight. Bottom line, still got his back. As if there was any doubt. Thanks to all of you.
