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Anticipation and Expectation
Author: Raine
Date: 01/12/2009 13:37:50
You know what eternity is? 8 days. Ask me again tomorrow and I will tell you -- 7 days. So much is going on right now that I don't know where to begin. Our President Elect will been given the keys to not just a a terrible economy, but a worsening foreign policy crisis since election day, (so long ago).
In our great anticipation, my concern for P-E Obama is that he will indeed have to change things as the facts on the ground change (and they change almost daily). Will this make him a person who broke campaign promises? I don't think so. I think it makes him a man who is going to have, quite possibly, the most difficult job in the world. Being one of the most popular people in the world taking the job of what may be known as the worst president ever: At first blush, it could be said that Barack Obama could actually do very little and still not fail as miserably as the 43rd administration did. We know he won't, because the fate and welfare of an entire nation is already resting on his shoulders.
It's a fine line to balance a global recession -- edging ever so slowly to a depression, war raging in Gaza, our continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the general unease of an American people. That leaves very high expectations of PE Obama. We want - truly want - him to succeed. In order for anyone to succeed, I have learned it is important to not set unrealistic expectations. After 8 years of having almost all expectations fail from a president, it is going to be hard to find balance without feeling like we as liberals are being sold out. We are so used to it after all. We had to fight harder we had to speak louder... and we are used to being in defense mode.
So I say, in this time of great expectations, keep fighting the battles and keep speaking up, knowing that possibly one of the biggest expectations of all is the one set BY Barack Obama. He asked for all voices to speak up, he said he would listen to opposing voices. Perhaps-- he himself is trying to be all things to all people, and that means that choices will have to be made. Some we will celebrate. Some we will protest.
In the coming months, patience and fortitude will be needed. What is important is that we do have a president who wants to bring the nation together again instead of the irrational bipartisan punditry and politics we have seen over the past 16 years. He may have a different way than neo-conservatives or liberals want him to unite the nation, and that is fine... but he is trying to bring us back together. That means all the difference in the world to me. I still anticipate and expect great things.
8 days.
:peace: and
Raine
In our great anticipation, my concern for P-E Obama is that he will indeed have to change things as the facts on the ground change (and they change almost daily). Will this make him a person who broke campaign promises? I don't think so. I think it makes him a man who is going to have, quite possibly, the most difficult job in the world. Being one of the most popular people in the world taking the job of what may be known as the worst president ever:
“He’’s unusual. Most two-term presidents have a mixed record. Lyndon Johnson, one of the greatest achievements in the 20th century was civil rights legislation; on the other hand you have the extraordinary tragedy of Vietnam. Even Richard Nixon opened the door to China and had foreign policy credentials. Bush has nothing on the positive side, virtually nothing,” Ellis added
And that’’s not a minority opinion. In a 2006 Siena College survey of 744 history professors, 82 percent rated President Bush below average, or a failure.
Last April, in an informal poll by George Mason University of 109 historians, 98 percent considered him a failed president. Sixty-one percent judged him, as Ellis does, one of the worst in American history.
It's a fine line to balance a global recession -- edging ever so slowly to a depression, war raging in Gaza, our continued wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the general unease of an American people. That leaves very high expectations of PE Obama. We want - truly want - him to succeed. In order for anyone to succeed, I have learned it is important to not set unrealistic expectations. After 8 years of having almost all expectations fail from a president, it is going to be hard to find balance without feeling like we as liberals are being sold out. We are so used to it after all. We had to fight harder we had to speak louder... and we are used to being in defense mode.
So I say, in this time of great expectations, keep fighting the battles and keep speaking up, knowing that possibly one of the biggest expectations of all is the one set BY Barack Obama. He asked for all voices to speak up, he said he would listen to opposing voices. Perhaps-- he himself is trying to be all things to all people, and that means that choices will have to be made. Some we will celebrate. Some we will protest.
In the coming months, patience and fortitude will be needed. What is important is that we do have a president who wants to bring the nation together again instead of the irrational bipartisan punditry and politics we have seen over the past 16 years. He may have a different way than neo-conservatives or liberals want him to unite the nation, and that is fine... but he is trying to bring us back together. That means all the difference in the world to me. I still anticipate and expect great things.
8 days.
:peace: and
Raine
