Thanks to the Admiral for this one. A biographical video of Obama. My favorite line: “Its one thing if your name was Barack Smith. Or Barry Obama. But Barack Obama? That’s a killer.”
Watching this brings something home to me. Obama’s election was a huge breakthrough. At last a black as President. The color barrier, that we’d all watched attacked through the Fifties and Sixties, was broken. Lincoln must be looking down from heaven ecstatic. And such an eloquent and compassionate man.
But, not only was Obama affected by a post-election circumstance that I think every President is, but two other circumstances also hit him.
The post-election circumstance, known also to most couples, is the waning of the honeymoon. Finally the difficulties begin and no matter who is President, the support begins to fall away.
The two other circumstances are, first, that the economy fell into the toilet even before Obama was elected. Now that is a shorthand way of saying it because you and I know that this economy is being deconstructed because of the third circumstance, which I’ll get to in a moment.
But for most Americans, who don’t see what we see, all that is known is that the bottom fell out of the economy and Obama is the President and he damn well better do something about it.
So the man who broke the color barrier, and in a magical, deft way, became in many people’s minds the man who didn’t know how to make it all better. People were not getting a paycheck and it must be the President’s fault.
The third circumstance we know about and most others don’t. And those others who read this post and don’t will call me a “psychoceramic” for it (does anyone know what that means?). But we are taking the cabal apart, root and branch. And the cabal is responding by starting any kind of negative rumor about Obama they can. The Rush Limbaughs and Glenn Becks have a blank cheque to say anything and we obligingly take it up.
He didn’t spend his vacation on the Gulf. He didn’t visit the Boy Scout Jamboree. He was seen smoking a cigarette out back of the White House. (I’m making it up now.) He’s having trysts. Anything to turn the public against him and restore the cabal to the heights of power.
And the more pressure put on the cabal, the more they turn the heat up on Obama.
So therefore the task falls to us to begin again slowly to rebuild that relationship, just like a couple does after the stardust has worn off and the initial momentum is gone.
In so many situations like these, people are startled that the initial momentum stopped. The relationship did not have the ability to keep going forever on the first burst of love. Oh, we have to work on it.
Yes, we do have to work on it. But this next leg of the relationship, the bond will grow because we are consciously nurturing it, not swept off our feet, and so it will be stronger. This time we are building that relationship consciously and intentionally and not simply going with the wave.
So this is what we need to do with President Obama: build the relationship consciously and intentionally. We have to stop listening to the anti-Obama rumors and stories and get that we want this man to lead us; we empower him to lead us.
We have to find our own strength and fibre and be brave enough to stand against the tsunami of negativity that the cabal is churning out against him. This time, if we stand against the waves, our actions will have real power because they are not the delirious, hysterical, mindless joy that came with the first triumph. They are the determined, intentional insistence on giving this man a chance to do his best work on our behalf, in an atmosphere free of recrimination and suspicion.
So, yes, I enjoyed that video, Admiral. Thank you for sending it along. It really made my day and I hope more biographical videos are done. This relationship needs building. It won’t carry itself forward on unconscious momentum. It needs conscious attention and love.