Barack Obama: President of the United States

I have been powerfully inclined to, for lack of a better word, wax prophetically about the impending doom of an Obama administration. But after considering which of his policies would be the most expediently destructive, and being further educated by conservative political pundits on the impending Armageddon, I suddenly realized which policies would be the most devastating. None of them. There are no policies, only educated conjecture of what could, might, probably, and surely will take place. To compound the adumbrated doom from conservatives, the lack of civility towards Obama from conservatives is starting to rival the putrid dialog of the left. With that said I will show a measure of restraint and civility that should be the bulwark of conservatism.

With that said, congratulations, Barack Obama.

Most presidents are presented with predicaments and sometimes catastrophic calamities. Some more than others. As unfortunate as these are for a country, they are also opportunities for a man to achieve greatness. These are defining opportunities. They also present a president the opportunity to fail, and fail absolutely. A man cannot achieve greatness without the opportunity to overcome something greater than he.

Barack Obama deserves a clean slate, yet his past and his associations will preclude him from receiving the benefit of the doubt. The two can be cerebrally reconciled.

Barack Obama will inherit an economy that is spiraling out of control and settling into a recession. The economy will be Obama’s first test because his dialog in the immediate time span ensuing the election set the tone for the economy. The radical ideas for the economy that he espoused on the campaign trail, if reinforced, will do further damage to the economy and markets. His election alone has caused an historic two day catastrophic effect. He can have a tremendous effect on it by doing the right thing and not presenting his radical liberal taxation program to the public that he pandered with to get elected during the campaign. That would be the right thing to do and would take courage. By leaving the current tax rates will more than likely placate the markets and assist in the road to recovery. Obama has been presented with a presidential anomaly: he has been presented with the opportunity to succeed or fail before being sworn in. He has a clean slate to prove his courage.

Barack Obama needs to realize that this election was about race. He received 96 percent of the black vote. That is the definition of an election about race. Obama is fond of quoting Martin Luther King. Here is a quote from Dr. King that runs antithetical to Obama’s collecting 96 percent of the black vote: “I have a dream that one day my children will live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Obama received that 96 percent based on his skin color. I am not saying that Obama does not possess good character, he has yet to demonstrate it. He has a clean slate. He has the opportunity to demonstrate that he is to be judged by his character and not his skin color, and to become the uniter he has professed to be.

Obama will be confronted with a Russia that tested his mettle the day after the election by threatening to move warheads into Eastern Europe, and which has threatened our European allies if Obama continues with the Missile Defense Shield in Eastern Europe. The United States has agreements to provide the Missile Defense Shield to our allies. Hamas started bombing Israel the day after Obama was elected, breaking a four month truce. These are acts to test Obama’s perceived weakness. The operative word being perceived, since Obama has a clean slate.

Giving Barack Obama a clean slate to work with is civilly apropos. It is diametrically opposed to what liberals would have given to McCain. There is too much hatred and animosity from conservatives directed toward Obama as he has yet to fail. Condemnation for failure should be reserved until failure is absolute. This is not an apologetic for Obama, as there is a distinguishable difference between giving someone the opportunity to succeed, but at the same time logically calculating the probable outcome. It would be extremely unpatriotic at this juncture to wish for Obama’s failure. I want him to succeed. But he cannot succeed with the qualities that he presented to the country. His success is America’s success, and conversely, his failure is America’s failure.

I truly wish Obama success, but expect abject failure. Wishes and expectations generally run the gauntlet of dichotomy. Just as the adage goes, “fits like an old shoe”, corruption, racism, felonious activity, and partisanship have been Obama’s old shoe. He will need to resist the magnetism of his being pulled towards filling his prominent cabinet positions with people that fit the description above and who fit him like an old shoe. Should Obama fill his cabinet positions with the corrupt and ignorant old guard from the Congress, he will, before he takes the oath of office, have created a foundation for his administration that will set in motion not only failure, but a spectacular failure.

He cannot vote “present” as President. His patented nuances, while engaging during the campaign, will only be viewed as sophomoric as a leader. Obama will have to earn his stripes each step of the way. With his past and his radical and unethical associations, he does not deserve the benefit of the doubt. With a clean slate he possesses no honor, no character, no good will, no courage, and no right to wild eyed optimism from the 50 percent of America that did not want him elected. Those attributes he will have to prove.

As his Vice President elect, Joe Biden, said during his debate with Sarah Palin, when plagiarism rolled so easily off his tongue, “the past is prologue.” He failed to give credit to Shakespeare’s The Tempest as his source. Whereof what’s past is prologue’ what to come, In yours and my discharge. Biden’s most recent plagiarism is Barack Obama’s challenge. Can Obama overcome his past? If his past is his prologue, he will fail, and fail miserably.

As Obama called the U.S. economy a disaster and stated that the thanks should go to “John McCain’s president, George W. Bush”, I will use the same logic in closing: Barack Obama is the president of the people who voted him into office, not mine. But I do challenge him to become my president.

Posted to Politics | Comments (6) | Email This Post | Tags: Barack Obama President