President Obama took the inaugural oath one year ago today. Those who supported him worldwide felt so much awe, triumph, and hope one year ago, yet today many are disillusioned, worried, and impatient. If the 10% national unemployment rate isn't disheartening enough, the latest million dollar bonuses in the banking industry, the stalled health care bill, and the election of a Republican to fill the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat are enough to dash the last vestiges of hope any of us may have had for real change.
Here I sit, melancholy and subdued. If I could write a letter to my president, Barack Obama, it would go something like this:
Mr President:
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream---and not make dreams your master;
If you can think---and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same:.
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings---nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much:
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And---which is more---you'll be a Man, my son!
-Rudyard Kipling
Yes, if I could, I would forward Kipling's perennial words to President Obama with a note in my own prose saying, "We are counting on you not to fail. We need you to change the course of history in an irrevocable extraordinary way. You must not falter. You are the hope and the dream of the slave."
The emotion in this peace comes across beautifully. While I sometimes share the fear (and occasionally even doubt) about the possibility for real change, I have to remind myself as I often have to remind family and friends; He can not do this alone. "Yes WE can" is the slogan, not "yes I can". Too many of us took the first step with President Obama, but when it came time to do the real work, we sat down and simply said, "Okay. You should be good now. Make it do what it do". If we were still walking beside him, A republican who is openly against the Health care bill would NOT have won the seat vacated by a man who's dying wish was for the passage of such a bill. If we were still holding his hand, he would still be fighting uphill battles, but his fellow Democratic statesmen would not be cowering in the corners like scorned little puppies. They would be afraid of us, the voters, not big business. We must recognize that President Obama is constantly throwing us the football but it's up to us to run the touchdowns. So far, the other side keeps intercepting while we stand by on the sidelines blaming the quarterback for not kicking a field goal. We've got to strap on the pads, put the mouth piece in and play to win. Otherwise..........we lose. And a loss for us means no voice for the poor and not another African American in the white house for decades to come. The stakes are high my friends.
ReplyDeleteI hear what you're saying. Where were the Obama supporters in MA yesterday? Why were they so quick to turncoat when "the" Senate seat was at stake, the seat that tipped the balance of power? Even if Obama's MA supporters disagreed with the health care bill, was it worth jeopardizing the entire administration? It just doesn't make any sense. Are Obama supporters merely ephemeral, merely fair-weather?
ReplyDeleteI think the problem is that President Obama is being judged much more harshly (as we always are) by not only members of other races, but by members of our own race (once again, as we always are). I hate to say it this way, but truth is truth, so here we go..... Because our President is not on Capital Hill rolling his neck and threatening to "buss a cap" in every mo-fo that disagrees with him, a lot of "us" have turned our backs. Likewise, those of the caucasian persuasion wanted him to attack "the other side" in a less intellectual manner as well. Truth is, most of us wanted him to react in anger to his opponents. We wanted someone to get even with Bush. I fear that a lot of us (Americans) heard the words President Obama was saying, but did not truly understand the depth of his intellect nor the severity of his honesty. The only mistake he has made is believing in the basic good in humankind. Perhaps soon he will face the fact that most politicians are not human. Don't get me wrong, I don't for a second wish for him to lose who he is, but maybe he can hire someone to do his dirty work!
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