Obama: Of Dichotomy and Reflections
This time last year I was pounding the keyboard with mantras of, oh yes we can! The adrenaline was rushing as I tried my best to fend off right wingers who could not fathom Barack Obama as President. It was a natural high of the kind we knew back in the day when we were certain we were marching for peace and equality. Aged hippies at a computer in the social media marching across blogs and Tweets to state our case for the first African American president. And he won. We savored, not only his victory, but our own as it seemed a fruition of deals that had not been closed years ago.
Jump forward to this past week with Obama going to Ghana and being hailed as “His Excellency, President Barack Obama!” The dichotomy of feelings he must have had. Here he was, once again the symbol of all things possible, in an African nation which suffers dire poverty amid the remnants of slavery. Through the “Door of No Return” he went and saw the dungeons where slaves had been held while they awaited their fate. The surge of feelings must have been overwhelming.
Back home, back home, there awaits a myriad of problems that do not glisten with glitter left on the floors of campaign tours. Here there are answers demanded, budgets to be settled and a quagmire of health care issues which need to be resolved. Back home there is racism in the form of children in Philadelphia turned away from a swimming club because they “would change the complexion …and the atmosphere of the club.” Back home there are problems and the remnants of racism that simmer beneath the surface as white supremacists hold meetings and bemoan the Black man who closed their factory, put them in an unemployment line, and limited their pensions. Uppity, he is one uppity…I told you so!
Back home there is the reality that one cannot rationalize with irrational minds and that malevolent forces walk this earth in many forms. Here Obama is not known as “His Excellency.” No, here he is the man blamed for the many problems wrought by predecessors who took from the country and retreated like Silas Marner.
But here also, there are still those of us who believe that this man, this Black man who became our President, will do the best he can with the debris left in the Oval Office. He will forge ahead with honor. And that is a whole lot more than we have had in recent administrations. He has been in office little more than six months. He never claimed to be “The Messiah.” That was a term ascribed to him from the Right in dilettante fashion. Obama will close some of the deals for us. He cannot close all the deals. One cannot, after all, rationalize with irrational minds. In those solemn hours will he have visions of “The Door of No Return”?
—-cher
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I still think Obama has a chance to be a great president, but he has to get much tougher with Congress. Bill Maker was right. bush used every square inch of his mandate to do it his way. On key after after key issue Obama caves in to Congress. Those folks need tough love and will accept it. Obama just has to redsicover that yes, he can.
Very well said, my dear Cher. Very well said indeed.
Windroot,
I agree that Obama does have a chance to achieve many victories and to leave a positive mark in history for himself and for this country. Your point is well-taken, though. He must put on the gloves and show his strength. I liked your analogy of “tough love.” He has earned his stripes. Now he needs to use them and to wield power in securing the vision he promised. Coming to the center is fine, but not when it takes you off course.
FishHawk,
Thanks so much. Cheers to you and for you, my friend.
Obama can, YES HE CAN.
“Damn – He Betta..”
as my auntee’s said to me after I called them screaming
after I voted. I had predicted the win 48 hrs before hand
and called everybody boasting about my prognosticating abilities.
afterall, I am the auntee who can look at unnu baby
inna di belly and a see dem smile. I’m rarely wrong
on baby sexes; so I knew I would be right on this pregnancy.
yeah america delivered, and now that toddler is learning
how to stand up. lets just wait till he gets ready to walk
and take his first real steps.. oh man !
doesn’t it feel just like watching your baby become a toddler
and finally you know if he’s a lil bastard or a prince.
Our Lil Obama, betta be a Prince cause if he’s not we’re gonna
be a nation of Mad Ass Auntee’s and Uncles.
Ai’t that right Auntee Cher
I can’t think of the last President who gave people hope. I have great hope, if only people will get out of his way to let him do what he promised up he would. He has great ideas, those that block him deserve the disdain, not Obama.
I do hope he forces his hand a bit.
RE,
Once again you stated this as no one can. “He Betta!” The country has a lot riding on the President who won this Office in the most critical times we have had in decades.
When you look back in time, it seems there were those who were marked with destiny to become leaders when the world needed them most. I think of FDR and Churchill, for example. Barack Obama has an opportunity to mark his time with historic precedents and to take us forward in dignity. We may never again be the wealthiest nation, but if we regained our dignity and honor and took care of business on the home front, we would be in much better stead than we have been. No more shame. No more shame.
Sandy,
I remember the JFK years and how he had given us hope. He was taken away from us with promises unfulfilled. Something tells me that Obama is a force to be reckoned with. He ‘doesn’t suffer fools gladly’ so they better get out of the way and get the job done!
Cher, do you know if the Casa De Blanco has a Naughty Chair ?
we need to get somebody on that right away,
because if it does, then we need to find out why
bush and chaney weren’t chained to it ?
Yeah Cher – He Betta, is right
RE,
I don’t know if the White House has a “Naughty Chair” but let’s find out, okay? Personally, I think you and me can take Bush ‘n Cheney. Whaddaya think? Or—we can let Eric Holder do his best and tie them to the whippin’ post! Who sang about that, anyway? Was it the Allman Brothers? Help me out here. A whippin’ post. How about that, RE?
One of the interesting ironies is that while he was president Bush increased US aid to Africa to levels never seen before in history. According to an article in the Washington Post:
“He should be known for the largest single investment in AIDS and malaria, the biggest health investment of any government program ever.”
Aid was about $1.4 billion when he took office and he worked to increase it to a projected $10 billion in 2010.
Meanwhile, we have heard little from Obama about such things. Ironic considering he is half African.
Also, the song that was played over and over for Obama titled “Barack Obama” pretty much mocked and put down the US, Americans calling us “satan” among other things. The song is by Blakk Rasta and doesn’t sound that American “friendly.”
Why do I bring this up? Because the president who helped Africa more than any other in recent memory is ignored while the one who has thus far done nothing gets an anti-American song dedicated to him and people think it’s great!