Wednesday, January 21, 2009
New President
Today is the first full day of President Obama's term. There are a lot of folks who have high hopes for this guy. I hope they're correct. The problem is that he's just one guy, and a politician at that. Think of all the entrenched interests in Washington that he will have to fight to get even some of what he's promised accomplished. There are senators and congressmen who are so insulated from the real world that they have no idea what's going on, except as it helps them and their interests.
And now Obama joins their ranks. Yesterday he wanted to go to church three blocks away. "The trip required 20 Secret Service agents, a 14-car motorcade, precautionary gas masks and a specially armored Cadillac limousine." His life as one of the people has ended. Anything he writes or emails or says will be studied, picked apart and critiqued. If one of his kids trips on the stairs going to school, it'll be national news. If his wife changes clothes from J. Crew to Polo, it will make a significant change in the sales of both companies. If Obama changes from Blackberry to Samsung, the world will know of it and discuss endlessly what it really means.
Mr. President, I wish you the best and hope you can pull the USofA out of its hole. I hope you can make strong ties with the rest of the world and once again make our country someplace to be looked up to. And I really hope all the entrenched assholes give you a chance to do so.
