Tuesday, January 20, 2009

President Obama


Well, off to a shaky start. A botched oath of office, the most absurd benediction ever, and the worse dressed wife. Not to mention two Senators taken to the hospital (Kennedy and Byrd). His speech was depressing and uninspiring. It was more like a campaign stump speech than an inaugural address. Some of the parts were incoherent. He said "our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint." How naive is that? Security emanates from strength and force! Did the Jews have a just cause against the Nazis? Yes. Did they have any security? No. Was the justness of ending slavery enough to end that evil institution? No, war ended slavery. Stunning stupidity. He spent too much time in the university bubble.

He was also meshing personal responsibility with the necessity of larger government involvement. Which is it? Is the government going to solve all our problems or will it be the citizens? Or is "personal responsibility" synonymous with "don't bitch when I raise taxes"? What happened to "the buck stops here"? I don't know, perhaps it is my personal political bias but something about him troubles me. Perhaps it is because we really do not know who he is. Our only exposure to him has been in the light of a campaign where everyone is on their best behavior and cautious of polls. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

I wonder how long the honeymoon will last with his own party members. I think that all the hype is setting his supporters up for a big letdown. He may be popular now, but that can all change very fast. His approval ratings are about the same as Jimmy Carter's were, back when he took the oath. We all know how Carter turned out.

1 comment:

em said...

Agreed....let's not forget the ridiculous poet, too! She sounded more like the voice on a GPS than a poet! The next four years will be interesting, to say the least.