Thursday, January 28, 2010

Obama Persists!

And good for him! I am amazed, how he manages to hold up with apparent good humor and good spirits, even optimism, in the face of the political obstacles that continue to confront him--indeed, seem to multiply by the hour and day. I thought his speech last night was excellent. He went head-on for the major issues, was not afraid to accept responsibility, nor to hold others accountable where appropriate. I was at once astounded and gratified to hear him publicly scold the Supreme Court for their dreadful decision last week, to open the floodgates of corporate money into the political system. Not that it wasn't already the major factor in our political life. The venerables were forced to sit like little children in front of their teacher in the classroom. No doubt we will be hearing from Scalia...

So, yes! Persistence is the quality of the day. I choose to believe that this young man has his heart in the right place, along with a head that can grasp realities with analytic discernment, and address them with thoughtful patience and awareness of the circumstances, and an eye to their eventual outcome. I do not, however, believe him to be a magician, witch doctor, or Messiah. He needs help. He needs support. He needs thoughtful--not knee-jerk, ideological--criticism and collaboration. He challenged the Congress to work with him for the benefit of a deeply wounded, deeply divided country.

The glove was thrown down last night--and not only to the Congress. It was thrown down at the feet of the American people who elected this still new President, as well as the feet of their other elected representatives.

I wonder, now, if all of us will recognize the challenge and stoop to pick up the glove that has been thrown. If we fail to do so, if we continue to squabble and obstruct, if we continue to whine and whimper like unruly children, or stamp our feet when we don't get our way, we will surely hobble this President we elected amid so much fanfare, and with so much hope. If we are to get out of this current mess we're in, we must, each of us, learn to see further than our little selves, our imagined needs, our assertive and yet fragile egos. This absurd struggle for power succeeds, eventually, only in rendering us impotent.

So, can we persist? Can we, at this late date, summon up the will to find our common purpose and to work toward our common good? Can we yet learn to sacrifice some of our own sacred cows? If not, I believe this America is destined to become irrelevant as the rest of the world moves on.




7 comments:

robin andrea said...

Can we, at this late date, summon up the will to find our common purpose and to work toward our common good? If not, we are destined to become irrelevant as the rest of the world moves on.

I told Roger the other day, when I start to get wistful and hopeful about politics and our nation moving in the direction for the common good, that he should slap me and shout, "Snap out of it" (like Cher slapping Nicholas Cage in Moonstruck). After watching Obama's speech last night, I had the familiar feeling... almost a sense of well-being... that something could change and we could move in the right direction. Whew, I realized I needed to SNAP OUT OF IT!

They call him James Ure said...

I still support him for the most part but not the Congressional Democrats. I will though probably vote for him barring a good Green Party candidate.

Unknown said...

Right on the money Peter. I do believe, however, that if our president is actually going to accomplish any of his lofty goals, he's going to have to compromise big time with the Republicans and that, is the start of a very slippery slope. but, there is probably no aslternative. Its Bill Clinton revisited.

CHI SPHERE said...

BE ROCK OBAMA IS HERE
HE GAVE YOU A YEAR
NOW HE FACES YOU OFF
PLEASE GET IT RIGHT HOUSE AND SENATE

WORK IT OUT LIKE STEVE JOBS
YOU ARE ALREADY NAKED
YOU ARE GOING TO DIE
WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOOSE?

WE ELECTED HIM TO GET IT DONE NOW NOT NEXT
WE ELECTED A WARRIOR TO DEFEND THINKING
TO REASON AND DEBUNK COMPROMISE
MOTHER EARTH IS PISSED WITH GREED

MOTHER EARTH IS VERY FUCKING STRONG
SHE WILL KICK YOUR ASS WHILE YOU VOTE KYOTO
SHE A BITCH WITH RABIES YOU GAVE HER GOP
ROUGE WAS A WORD IN MY KIDS SPELLING TEST

SURELY IT IS OBVIOUS BY NOW THAT THE WAY
FORWARD IS THROUGH GOOD SCIENCE GOOD ART
GOOD PEOPLE WHO MAKE BEAUTY AND FUSION
RESISTANCE IS FORMLESS

Peter Clothier said...

Thanks, all. It's Saturday now, as I write, and I've just posted another entry on this topic. Did you catch Obama's masterful handling of Republicans at their meeting? The man is unquestionably brilliant--and, in a word, commanding. Totally at ease in a hostile environment, clear and concise in his answers to diffuse and often sarcastic questions... I was bowled over.

CHI SPHERE said...

Further to Obama's ability to step up to the plate and serve some humble pie to the sour grapes on each side of the isle and show them how to eat it as well.

Accepting responsibility for errors while moving on with the knowledge learned from our mistakes is
how we learn. It is the cornerstone of leadership to grow from error. Calling out the GOP's on their petty obstructionist ways is how to defeat the petty tyrants.

"A law can be both economic folly and
constitutional." Antonin Scalia

He mouths "not true" to Obama during his state of the union address when exposed to the reality of his vote which allows the multinational corporations in the USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea, Columbia, China and other oppressive human rights criminal governments to spend as much as they wish on election advertising with other lobby like interests. This subversion of Democracy is criminal in my mind.

I have spoken with vets I served with in Vietnam and those at VFW meetings about the reversal decision. Many are GOP enlisted and often differ with me on other matters. This one is way over the top for them as well. We did not defend our way of life with our living, wounded and dead brothers and sisters in order to have outside forces diminish the truth by outspending reason. My friend down the street has two jobs and works from a wheel chair because his legs were removed by a IED in Iraq while he was sewing up holes in his friends chest in the back of a 6 by 6. He has contempt for Scalia.

He earned two silver stars and is putting his boys through school with mine. He is still owed back pay he may never see and NEVER complains about his constant pain, NEVER!

Mr Scalia needs to visit the real world more often
and get a life! The one he has is bankrupt!

Very often I write here to express my outrage or support the wise and insightful thoughts of others.
There are probably those of you who don't appreciate some of my views which is just fine with me. I am very appreciative that this forum exists.
We are served best by sharing our differences and by participating in the dialogue offered here to do so and for that I thank Peter and thank you all.

Singing Bowl said...

I think he is a smart guy. It just takes longer time for him to get better at his job. He will eventually recognize he cannot please everyone being the president.