Yes, Barack Obama won the election.
Yes, he is the first black President of the United States, and yes, that is an historic event about which all Americans are justifiably proud.
Yes, he is a dynamic presence whose “soaring rhetoric” inspires hope among his followers.
But please, people, get a grip!
Barack Obama is just a man. He’s not a god. He’s not the Second Coming. He puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like George Bush, just like Al Gore and John Kerry, just like Joe Biden and Dick Cheney, and, come to think of it, just like Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton.
He may be a great president. But then, he may be a lousy president: We don’t know yet.
He hasn’t been sworn in, and in fact hasn’t even been formally elected yet.
All the gushing praise of Oprah and the French; the miraculous one-day transformation of America from “pariah of the world” to its former station as the greatest country on Earth; the fawning TV ads from AARP and NFIB; just because a black guy from Chicago with mysterious past alliances and secrets about his past yet to be revealed, with less real-life experience to qualify him for president than any president in history, won the longest election in our history … It’s enough to trigger the gag reflex.
Please, America, slap yourself in the face; splash a little ice-cold water on it; pinch yourself. Try to see the rest of the picture.
The guy had lots of help in winning, not least among which is the immeasurable assistance of a corrupt and discredited mainstream “news” media who selected Mr. Obama a long time ago and worked tirelessly for his election, as we have learned from numerous sources, most recently the ombudsman for the Washington Post, and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who gets a chill up his leg when he thinks about Obama, and told the world that his job is to see that this presidency succeeds.
But Barack Obama has enormous problems facing him, like an economic crisis brought on by the actions of his own party, which, incidently, controls Congress. And the threat of Islamic terrorism, which his predecessor has done a marvelous job of keeping at bay for seven years. And an increasingly more serious situation regarding Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. And an energy problem no one has done anything about for 30 years. And, the normal set of domestic difficulties every president faces.
So, if you’re pleased that at long last we have a black president, fine. But you, and he, have to focus on reality now, and that is a much less pleasant topic that requires sober thought and real, as opposed to empty, leadership.
Check back this time next year for evidence of how well your guy is doing. By then there will be something substantive to judge.
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