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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
It was November 4 in a small New Hampshire town, and I was part of a group of Obama volunteers at the polling site recording information. We were all committed Obama supporters, had worked for weeks for this day, and although the final outcome was still hours away, we still felt optimistic. At the same time, we knew November 5 was going to be a whole new landscape.
I remember being part of the "what are we going to do with ourselves" conversation, and one of the things I proffered was just his type of situation. As soon as Obama won, people would begin to rip into him -- even his supporters. My suggestion then, and now, is the same.
We have HUGE problems, problems that are going to haunt our children. I supported Barack Obama because I saw what he was capable of doing -- he came from nothing, with no money and no name recognition, and ended up besting the Clintons and then the Conservatives. And he did it with an amazing organization and disciplined, cool leadership.
I suggest that we do what adults are expected to do. We nominated a leader and we expect him to lead, and we don't have the right to question his leadership until things really begin to fall apart. And so far, Obama has done admirably. I, for one, am content to sit back and let him do his thing -- he's done just fine up until now. Better than fine, in fact.
Our job, as I see it, is to answer his challenge to pull on the rope which is going to drag US ALL out of this pit. We need to focus on that, pulling, supporting, being cheerleaders for those who lose faith (and it saddens me that my prediction has come to be, but I know human nature). Obama has chosen experts in whom he has faith, and just as he navigated the shoals of the campaign with such skill and confidence, I believe he will act as President in the same way. We need to allow him the space to lead, unfettered, without joining in the empty cacophony from the pundits and talking heads and poor team members among us.
I trust that just as he won the presidency, he will win for America.
The author makes an assumption that is an error made by many. Just because I (and millions of others) voted for Obama and have life-long Democratic Party credentials does not translate to immediate left of center politics.
There are so many of us out here who equally distrust the far right and far left of the political extremes. We've just been through the hard right rule... and we can't even figure out where it's gotten us but we know it isn't anywhere we want to be. Enough with extremes and enough with experiments in government.
It is long past time for the political pendulum to settle to the center for a few years. Common sense, common curtesy, common goals and consensus - it's time to give the center a chance.
I have a simple criteria.
Dont be a Republican.
Dont be an Idiot.
Dont be GW Bush or Cheney.
Obama meets that and then some.
56 days until we divest ourselves of the worst president in the history of anything with a list and some of us are NIT PICKING.
WHO is he supposed to pick? A local grocer? Your newspaper boy? You?
I expect him to be thoughtful, intelligent, and have a method to his plan. You know all the things we spent 8 years on our knees at night praying for???
Do you want Bush back? Missing McCain/Palin?
Now comes the serious buisness of GOVERNING.
Calming the markets- you know, the NO DRAMA stuff?
Can you wait until January 21 to start whining and wetting yourselves?
Take this time in the holiday season to thank the gods for this opportunity for change.
I have a simple criteria.
Dont be a Republican.
Dont be an Idiot.
Dont be GW Bush or Cheney.
Obama meets that and then some.
56 days until we divest ourselves of the worst president in the history of anything with a list and some of us are NIT PICKING.
WHO is he supposed to pick? A local grocer? Your newspaper boy? You?
I expect him to be thoughtful, intelligent, and have a method to his plan. You know all the things we spent 8 years on our knees at night praying for???
Do you want Bush back? Missing McCain/Palin?
Now comes the serious buisness of GOVERNING.
Calming the markets- you know, the NO DRAMA stuff?
Can you wait until January 21 to start whining and wetting yourselves?
Take this time in the holiday season to thank the gods for this opportunity for change.
What we have here is a case of the awe dancing with the awkward. Few really knew what "President-elect cool" was talking about when he threw around, "change", "hope", and "yes we can." In his vagueness, the gentleman from Illinois pasted together a narrative even an idiot could roll with,
In real life, the somewhat moderate Mr. Obama is pooling together a kind of Kantian fusion. Plugging tenets of rationalism into sockets of empiricism is not for the faint of heart. A lack of social inertia will be somewhat magically preserved in this administration.
People should not complain until Obama gets into office, including these column writers who seem to like to stir up s*** before anyone even goes to the toilet. If Obama pushes liberal change too quickly now, don't you think the spiteful bas**rd Bush wouldn't do more damage in the form of a scorched earth policy? I wouldn't put it past Bush, and his corrupt band of thieves who call themselves Republicans. Right now, Obama is President-Elect. If he doesn't come through with his platform of change when he is President, then all bets are off. And as far as Hillary Clinton, she is totally qualified for the job as Secretary of State. She has extensive experience on the world scene and has the ba**s to do the job.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
