Happy Birthday Mr. President
Obama turns 50 today and of course, shares a birthday with Louis Armstrong – how great is that? I received a card in the mail, a birthday card to send Obama but I went ahead and made one of my own for him as well. I told him bluntly that my mother told me at 50 I would become a woman and that was true. At 50 I implored him to go inside of himself because there were forces at work that were trying to hijack his agenda, miscommunicate his intent, and derail what this country truly needs right now. I cited Tin as an example, a child born to a woman who was not served by the foster care system, who was not educated, who struggled with addictions, who had a whole list of challenges to overcome. And she is one of many in this country.
I wrote to him that if he looked inside of himself and found his own center, that he would see that priorities have gotten mangled in this country and he would be able to rise up to what he was fully capable of by hearing the voice inside of him.
I still believe in Obama. I still believe we elected a great president. We will not know what sort of president he truly is until we are looking back on this challenging time, but I can tell you that I still feel more assured with him in that office than I would with anyone else. I only wish he was presiding over a more peaceful time, a more financially fiscal time, and a more optimistic time so that he could address core issues in this country that have gone without leadership for so long – education, poverty, children. But alas, he inherited a mess, a trick bag filled with wrong turns and detours and snake pits the likes of which would have run off Indiana Jones.
But I believe he will pull through this quagmire and rise to the occasion. Happy Birthday Barack Obama – at 50, as my mother so accurately said, you have just become a man.
August 4th, 2011 at 9:49 am
If Barack Obama had come into office with the realization that no matter what he did he was not going to be able to win over his ENEMIES and that he should “dance with those that brung him”. This is not saying that he should not be the President for all the citizens of the United States. Instead he surrounded himself with the likes of Emanuel and Gietner and Daily and made less than half-hearted efforts to get Elizabeth Warren confirmed. His appeasement of the Right only emboldened them further. Had he fought and stood up for the people who got him elected he would have been respected. He needed to start his first term as President thinking that it may be his only term as President.
August 5th, 2011 at 11:15 am
I think we’ve come to some global understanding that all of the world leaders we have elected are falling short of their duties collectively, individually, and nationally. The time is ripe for a different way but I don’t hear anyone leading the way – it could be that much like what we learned during the Federal Flood – there are no leaders, there are only us – you and me. Isn’t that what has happened with the Arab Spring? Isn’t that what we saw in the 60s – tune in or tune out? I think we are again going through a renaissance where the apathy that allows the people we elect to run us into a brick wall is receding and people are starting to get fed up – hopefully all of the whiz bang of new technology will not be for naught and venues such as social media and mobile devices will allow the us to lead the way, since we can no longer depend on the them’s.