Great Expectations
for release 11-10-08
Dallas, Texas
by Lightning Rod
After watching the very inspiring acceptance speech that Barack Obama delivered in Grant Park on election night, my first thought was, "The last person on Earth that I would want to be at this moment is Barack Obama."
The burden of expectations is great.
I have always had this theory that the barber in the White House has a can of gray spray paint. The only president in my memory who didn't develop massive gray hair during his term of office was Ronald Reagan. Either the man never worried or else only his hairdresser knew for sure.
My prediction is that by the end of his first term, Obama will have as much gray hair as Nelson Mandela.
The presidency is an awesome job under the best of circumstances. The circumstances that Obama will inherit after the wholesale debacle of the Bush administration will be even more taxing than usual. He has massive challenges on every front. A faltering economy inspired by an orgy of deregulation, massive debt, the two wars that aren't working out too well, terrorism inspired by our imperialistic ways, our oil habit, our shattered international prestige and the shaken confidence of our citizens in their government, will all be staring him directly in the face when he wakes up on January 21st.
The Poet's Eye sits under a knitted brow. When I listen to the pundits and partisans and purveyors of the news, I fear that the expectations rested upon the shoulders of this frail man (who Arnold the Governator thinks should do some squats and curls) might be too great. What will happen when he can't walk on water?
Yes, naturally, after eight years of being represented by an inept and inarticulate president, the nation is encouraged by the election of a leader with demonstrable intelligence, skill and integrity. Let's face it. George Bush's presidency was a national embarrassment. The whole world was wondering, 'How could this uncurious, mediocre, dogmatic person be the leader of the greatest nation on Earth?"
This is why the decisive election of Obama was such cause for joy and tears and hope. We will again have a leader who can put two sentences together. We will be represented by a person who at least understands the words that he utters and is not just a ventriloquist's dummy reading from the script written for him by a sinister corporate Illuminati.
Barack Obama surely represents hope, aspiration, intelligence and confidence. The Poet's Eye observes that he has the attitude and the gravitas and soul to be a great leader. But he is not a god, He is a mortal facing mortal problems. We shouldn't expect him to be our savior. It will give him gray hair.
"Now, I return to this young fellow. And the communication I have got to make is, that he has great expectations."
- Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
