CIE’s Person of the Year: Barack Obama
Ben Bernanke? Really, Time magazine? Certainly not here at CIE. And I realize that you already chose Obama as your 2008 Person of the Year, but in all due respect, that was a really safe choice at the time (pre-inauguration). Safe, and well, maybe it was also a small contribution to the PR problem that Obama currently faces. While Bernanke is the de-facto face of the economic bubble and its unraveling, Obama had a bubble problem of his own: an image bubble. The rock star-cum-messiah-cum-Santa Claus persona that he developed thoughout his campaign was perhaps what ultimately led to his election, but in such a serious time of economic downturn and real social and civic need, that bubble has also unraveled over the first year of his presidency. Please understand, those of you out there who are disillusioned with Obama these days, this had to happen. Obama is not a rock star. He is not a messiah, he is not Santa Claus. But he is a very very good president. Already. In his first year. And we are not spoiled children. We need things, to be sure. Things with which Obama can help. But throwing tantrums because your own set of personal needs was not addressed immediately after the election is unrealistic. Even for Santa Claus.
Obama inherited a broken system. More specifically, he inherited a system that the previous administration willfully and intentionally broke. If that sounds a little far-fetched, please read Thomas Frank’s brilliant book on the subject, The Wrecking Crew. Among the reasons to willfully hollow out government (see also “Starving the Beast”): so that the public learns not to rely on government to assist in meeting their needs. If people expect the government to be absent, or poorly run and inefficient, they will find alternative ways to get the support they need, and not expect the government to offer any oversight or protections. Viva la Free Market! And all those tax dollars, which are still pouring in? To be spent as freely and irresponsibly as you can dream (though not by you, of course)!
But what we’ve learned in this 10+ year experiment in Free Market-ism is that the Free Market, without effective government, has no oversight. And the Free Market does not care about what’s best for you, or the world at large. Just what gets and keeps cash flowing. At the expense of our health, our education, our well-being, our homes, our judgment, our economy, our environment. How the heck do you think we ended up with such things soda and junk food machines in our nation’s public schools, or insurance companies that refuse individuals based on previous condition, or cancel policies if they develop a serious illness?
We need our education system to work efficiently, we need infrastructure that is well maintained, we need our basic rights and liberties protected. We need a government that works for us. We have to be willing to support our President in putting it back together. He’s got a tremendous amount of work to do, and one year is a small amount of time to tackle even some of them. Despite the head-scratching conventional wisdom that “Obama’s administration hasn’t done anything yet” (Seriously – who floated this turd? Grover Norquist?), please read John Richardson’s line-up of accomplishments (via Esquire Magazine). Among them, “Two days after he was sworn in, Obama banned the use of “harsh interrogation” and ordered the closing of Guantánamo. Two weeks after that, Obama signed the stimulus bill — a $787 billion accomplishment. In June, Obama reset the tone of our relations with the entire Arab world with a single speech — an accomplishment that the Bush administration failed to achieve despite a series of desperate PR moves (anyone remember Charlotte Beers?) and a “public diplomacy” budget of $1 billion a year“. These are just a few, and now, after Christmas Eve, might I add: a Health Care Reform Bill. Yep. On the table since the 1960s and not one President has been able to send it through House and Senate. Until now. And to all those who decry it because it is ‘not enough’; Obama himself has acknowledged that it is a start. Finally on the right path.
One morning in early October, I heard in passing that Obama had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. My heart swelled with pride. This was actually happening to our President! In that moment, I was struck with giddy joy: not only had our country elected to the highest office a Harvard professor of Constitutional Law, but a Nobel Laureate to boot. Amazing. Simply amazing. This feeling lasted all day until I turned on the TV news to watch some coverage. No feeling of national pride there at all. Oh sure, there was plenty of noise about the nomination, but it was to the tune of “he doesn’t really deserve it”. I was crestfallen. The image bubble had not only burst, but it seems our citizens were so disillusioned as to refuse acceptance of this honor. De-legitimized. Just as the Birther movement had been trying, unsuccessfully, to do for months. Granted, the timing was bad; Obama was already set to announce the ramping up of troops in Afghanistan; a patently non-peaceful move.
But this President has inspired in me something that all other Presidents of my lifetime have not: Trust. Obama is highly educated, analytically-minded, worldly and well-traveled, from a background that is similar to many of us in this country, well spoken and composed. GW Bush was none of these things. Obama has a capacity for understanding and empathy, and a strong will to do right by his office and its citizens. GW Bush did not. And although he was swept into office by fueling our hopes for change, he has not been a chest-beating purveyor of his own accomplishments (yep. like GW Bush). So when he orders more troops to Afghanistan, I assume that he has sufficient reason. But just in case, I still listen carefully to how he frames his decision. I could read between the lines sufficiently to reckon that his worry was Pakistan (Rogue nukes? Unstable government?), and not in fact Afghanistan, but as one wouldn’t openly declare war on a nuclear state, it was a prudent thing to make it about Pakistan’s neighbor, where troops had already been for eight years. And I am at peace with his decision. Out of trust.
I worry that the Free Market-ism will once again reign supreme in this country, its hold having gone too deep into the fabric of our lives, but one thing is certain: if we can’t get behind our President and his aims to repair the badly damaged system of government in this country, it will reign again (starting after the 2010 elections). So please, let us all get over our hurt at Obama not being Superman, or at least a superhuman who can come to our rescue on every little thing, and support him in what he has done, and is doing. In the words of the Neko Case, “bet the hand that your money’s on”. Our future is at stake.
No more whining!
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