History
Barack Obama's inauguration was so moving. Not just because he's broken one of our nation's most ferocious barriers, the mental block of race, but also because he is highly intelligent. And assertive. And he appears to have a plan. Whooo-eee!
And he's already working. He's stopped for review Bush's last "midnight regulations", which included allowing carrying concealed weapons in some national parks. He's moved to halt war crimes tribunals at Guantanamo, and is meeting with the national security team to determine direction in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama is already back to work on the much-needed economic stimulus plan, too.
Yikes
Then why can't I stop my personal "yikes" factor from kicking in, even yesterday, on such a historic day?
Just a few reasons, small and large.
-The speech. It was grim. I was hoping our problems, particularly economic, wouldn't sound so... grim yesterday. Obama is clearly taking the current not-so-hot state of this nation seriously, because that was not a soaring speech, but a get-our-hands-dirty-we've-got-urgent-problems call to action.
-The stock market. The Dow fell four percent to celebrate the day. Super.
-People. Take Timothy Geithner, vying to be Treasury Secretary. Look, even I know to pay all my self-employment tax, and nobody would consider me to be their bookkeeper, let alone Treasury Secretary. Self-employment tax is a no-brainer. And, once you've spotted an error in your taxes, going back a few years to see if you've made that same error multiple times is not rocket science either. With Obama, we raised our expectations for excellence in leaders. Let's not lower them for his appointees. Barack Obama can't do his job alone, and the people who surround him need to be really smart and really honest.
History
In four years, we'll remember this historic day. The "yikes" factors will, I hope, have faded. Hopefully our set of problems will have shifted somewhat. Your thoughts?
I liked the speech for it's "get-our-hands-dirty-we’ve-got-urgent-problems call to action" tone. Very motivating. I felt that the speech was very effectively inclusive because of the way Obama included everyone in the work to be done.
ReplyDeleteI think anything less than a "get-our-hands-dirty call to action" speech would have seemed naive or smoke-blowing-ish, given the economic reality. I'm glad he's taking it seriously, and I'm glad he goes beyond the hip-hip-hooray when he addresses the nation. (And from a PR standpoint, he's wise to manage our expectations!)
ReplyDeleteLuckily, there was so much palpable joy and excitement in the inaugural audience - something I have never once seen before! (weren't there thousands of PROTESTERS at the last few inaugurations?) - that it counterbalanced his sober message. I didn't come away with a sunken heart at all. I'm very excited for the days to come.
Ah, I know... I'm a real Eeyore. I agree that Obama's speech was entirely suited to the current national situation. Just wish the situation itself was a little brighter.
ReplyDeleteMaybe in six months. No, twelve. Maybe sixteen...