Saturday, October 16, 2010

Putting Away Childish Things



In his Inaugural speech, delivered January 20, 2009, President Barack Obama rolled out a lot of reality that left many listeners and watchers deflated. Obama, who my AP Language students and I found to be a rhetorical master, changed the tone of the conversation he had entered one white cold day in Springfield, Illinois. He'd chosen to announce his bid for the presidency at Abraham Lincoln's home town. Obama knows how to woo an audience. He knows the art of the soft sell. I find his rhetorical prowess unmatched. I have seen few to beat him. One close, Bill Clinton, who could convince the sun not to shine, faltered by way of his fallible real persona--which eventually evidenced itself, diminishing his credibility even among die hard friends of Bill. In his Inaugural speech, Obama took on a sober tone, left the stirring cacophony where he'd last used it, and said quite sternly that is was time to "put away childish things." He had a foreboding in his voice. Now we see why.

Getting the job is one thing. Doing the job is quite another. Put away childish things. Obama is a genius. Any African American man who can become president of the United States of America has to be genius. That is not to make some heavy proclamation about the deep seeded racism that pervades the country, it is just an honest assessment. Obama convinced white Americans many of whom would probably not want their sons or daughters to date an African American, to vote for him. They put their futures in his hands. And rightly so, he was the best man for the job. Only problem is that at this time in American history, the job must be absolutely backbreaking (in a very white-collar sense). Let's look at what it was when he took that oath of office on January 20. We had Iraq, Afghanistan, a collapsing economy (and all that entails), the threat of global environmental destruction, North Korea, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, Israel, Pirates, the CIA, Al Queda, Pakistan, gas prices, Gay Marriage, a health care crisis, and let's not forget the pending Swine Flu scare. Time to put away childish things.

I noticed within his Inaugural speech an allusion to Robert Frost's "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening." Obama said he had "promises to keep." And in the poem the speaker stops by a wood, mesmerized by its majesty. He becomes entranced by it even and only awakens from his stupor at the sound of his horse's bells sounding an alarm. That alarm pulls the speaker back onto the trail to keep his "promises--" his duties to himself and to those around him. I liken Obama's brilliance to the still beauteous woods. He is poetry. He is like Scottie Pippen or James Baldwin--butter smooth. He slides into pocket and announces his intentions.  He peers keenly into the soul of a problem; matches his wits against it, then attacks like some old time thinking cowboy like Josey Wales.  Slow and thoughtful.  He refuses bating.  He side-steps entanglement.  He does his job.  Those are the promises he said he'd keep.  The bells chimed and we all awoke.  By the time Obama took office on January 20, 2009, our country was in deep, deep trouble.  And real work, the kind of work that doesn't answer to 24-hour news cycles and instantaneous internet blogging and retweets is what we actually need, despite I desire for instant fixes.  We live in an age in which our attention span as a nation is completely diminished.  We see it all around us, but the long run is what we need right now.

Obama's campaign awed all who watched him. He made the women cry and the men wish they could. Made the old wish they were young again, and the dying wish to live a few more days. And now, probably more thanks to Glenn Beck,  FOX "news", and the billionaire Koch brothers,  all news channels say his approval numbers are down in Ohio.

Time to put away childish things. We have to deal directly with the astronomical difficulties which face this nation. We must do so with patience and wisdom. We cannot switch to this solution because that one is not working quickly enough. We must trust our better instincts: Obama is the man for the job. He has a human instinct which I find uncanny. He does not seem easily swayed by partisanship, nor is he ideological to the point of destruction. He appears to have the grown-up ability to be reflective and willing to make adjustments.

We are at a crossroads in America. Our old way of doing business is oppositional and quixotic. In a world as complicated as ours we must be able to talk in ways that are not oppositional and in ways that allow for difference. We must do away with the idea that we can avoid the consequence of our collective errant ways by latching on to leaders who, in reality, are just as human and fallible as are we.

We lived for eight years under the slipshod, neglectful leadership of George W. Bush, neglecting every one of the issues that we now face with much reticence and pain. We elected him; twice.  That administration  damaged or neglected everything we, as a nation, cherish. We all knew it would be a challenge to recover from those eight years of dreary, dysfunction and barbarism.  After Bush and the failure of trickle-down economics and military isolationism, we elected a president who said we had an obligation to put away childish things: including putting away the notion that we exist solipsistically on this planet and we can have a "re-do" whenever we want.  Our economy is upside down with billions of dollars in the pockets of the top one percent of our citizenry, with more and more Americans finding themselves shut out of the promise of the dreams we once took for granted.  No more are the promises of employment.  No more are the promises of home ownership.  No more.  Unfortunate, and maybe impossible to accept.  And do we have to resign ourselves to this horrible revelaltion?  Well, of course not; if we can, take the lead of the nation's leader and "put away [these] childish things."  Once we as individuals decide not to be manipulated by dogma, psuedo-intellectual idealogues, and other forms of time-wasting tomfoolery-- once we decide--ENOUGH--we will break free.  And let's also appreciate the moment.

What did Obama take on?  Such a meta-complex of problems.  For eight years, those of us who think about Global Warming, education, labor relations, fiscal balances, open government, and the concept of karmic reciprocity, seemingly sat on our hands; some protested and wrote letters and investigated--but to no avail.  The clock ticked for eight years, as we watched the Bush adminstration arrogantly exploit fear and prejudice for corporate profits.  Let's not forget.

We cannot forget how much damage the Bush administration wrought.  When something, anything, has been neglected for any amount of time, just as much if not more time is required for the process of reconstruction. We are in reconstruction mode. Let us do away with the childish idea that we can have what we want right now. We have a huge mess on our hands and it is going to take slow, methodical, painstaking work to fix it. Moreover, our leaders can only lead when we let them. When we respond to poll after poll, none of which seem quite accurate today because of the lack of land-lined homes, we play into "I want it now."  When we turn off to public servants because they no longer meet our superhero expectations, we play into "I will vote against you out of anger."  When we turn to uninformed, non-credible, gossip commentators as if they have the answer to what ails the country, we become the enemy we thought was the other guy.

Barack Obama is the man for the job. He is doing a job that I would not wish upon anyone friend or foe. He cannot quit. And guess what, he doesn't make as much money doing it as he probably should, so how about we give him a break, show some maturity, and act with a little more patience?
© Tasha Keeble 2009

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