Nov 06 2008
President Obama and The Weight (Wait) of Expectations
The euphoria of the election is over and now it’s time to get down to the serious work of fixing the broken parts of our country. While there are numerous issues to address; the economy, the wars, education, fumigating the White House to get rid of that ‘W’ smell, the expectations for change have been set by the campaign. Americans, especially those who are Obamaniacs, now expect the change promised during the campaign and they expect it now.
Take Peggy Joseph here as an example:
It sounds like Peggy believes Barack Obama will pay for her gas, forgive her mortgage, and who knows what else. While this type of thinking is clearly off base, it is shared by many of the Obama faithful and will have to be addressed by the Obama administration. In his acceptance speech, Obama acknowledge the challenges before him and tried to set realistic expectations:
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won’t agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can’t solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it’s been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
He is not even in office and already planting the seeds for his re-election campaign. I believe it will take a lot of time for the changes outlined by the Obama plan and there will be stumbles along the way. On the positive side for Obama, he has a Democratically-controlled Congress and what could be interpreted as a “mandate from the people” to make changes. The tools are in place for change, now he just has to figure out how to use them as quickly as possible.
The main question remains: will his loyal and fanatical base be willing to wait for the promise of change?
