Making
the case for the re-election of Barack Obama--
so that we may not leapfrog backwards in time
so that we may not leapfrog backwards in time
Imagine for a moment if you can, if
in the immediate aftermath of September 11, 2001 we, as a country, closed our
eyes, paused, took a long deep breath and with the
lens of history thought about what had just occurred. We were attacked by a group of
desert rats who waste no time in filling their hearts up with hatred for our
values, our conquests, our loudness, our flexing. It was always our destiny as
the country with the biggest muscles to get attacked in such a way. Let’s not
kid ourselves.
Now imagine if you can, if the Bush
Administration had the foresight not to rush into enemy territory bombing
whatever moved in infrared light. If they had not played upon public fears to flex
their own muscles in an act of hot-headed revenge and instead made a more
concise, calculated response, rather than the bumbled, disorganized mess we
got, maybe we wouldn't be stewing in the financial calamities we stew in today. To think of the lives and the surplus money that could have been spared is
to pound a fist angrily on the desk until it is nothing more than a bloody
mound of flesh. The cloak of government in the Bush era was thick and black and
draped over the public’s eyes to put into motion a misguided plan of attack.
Troops were sent out and stationed aimlessly. Bumper stickers were pressed on mightily.
We as a country were duped and we as a country suffered. Let’s not forget where
we’ve been.
Enter Barack Obama: the exact
opposite of a boot-stomping, redneck, C student President. On the campaign
trail he preached hope and change and caused rivers of tears from ecstatic
supporters thrilled with the idea of being part of the electoral process, some
for the first time in their lives. The landslide victory was always his for the
taking because the contrast was just too strong to ignore.
The idea that his transcendent
nature wouldn’t be dampened by the hard reality of politics, however, is just plain
naive. If you thought he’d accomplish all he touted to get into office then you
deserve to have the sinking feeling of shattered expectations follow you. No
man running for president has ever been able to get done in four years what he
promised he would. How could he? The world is a fluctuating jumble of
variables. What matters is the intention.
From the very moment Obama took
office, he advocated for a government of transparency. With his election the
cloak of government came down and this country received what it so badly
deserved: a truly open democracy. The relationship between you and your
government is now, with aid from the Internet, more direct. Read about the Open
Government Initiative here: www.whitehouse.gov/open. Everything this administration
has done, plans to do and hopes to accomplish can be found online. It doesn’t
matter if you agree or not with the policies, the point is that you, citizen, are
being entrusted with the information to make your own conclusion. No filter. No
Chris Matthews or Glenn Beck trying to sell it to you. You take what you learn,
sculpt it and realize your own values.
Overnight the global perception
of America improved. We regained respect that had been backsliding because the
election of Barack Obama meant we were willing to move on from where we’ve been
and inhabit new terrain. Ushered in was a new era of focused thinking. The
Obama Administration has been willing to analyze their failings and not run
from their detractors. There have been no photo-ops beneath banners proclaiming
the war over while the blood of troops dries in the dirt of Afghanistan. There
have been no disinterested expressions reflecting off airplane windows as
hurricane destruction appears, then disappears, below. This President genuinely
cares, at least, as genuinely as any man in politics can care (and by the way,
he did do a whole lot of what he said he would: end Iraq War, pass universal
healthcare, trim the burden of student loans, refocus the terrorist effort, etc.).
He’s built an administration that values honesty and reflection and wastes no
time in assessing the events that come hurling forward, both domestically and
abroad.
And so it comes with great
frustration that the race between Mitt Romney and President Obama is as close
as it is. The onetime governor and lifelong business magnate worth millions—and
with millions more stashed away in the Cayman Islands—is as conniving and robotic
as they come. Romney hides a lot: his taxes, his religion, his unpopularity in
the only state he’s been elected to office, his real agenda for the future of
the country. His curtains have been up. His motives hide in the bushes. Virtually
everything about the man is shrouded in secrecy and yet some people think his
business experience alone gives him a leg up to fix the problems that’ve been gelatinizing
for the past decade. The oil-can business man will march into office erasing
the deficit by cutting programs here and regulations there and we’ll never know
the specifics of these cuts until one day we realize those programs are gone.
To elect Mitt Romney as the 45th
President of the United States is to have that cloak of government strung right
back up again and go hurling back to the dark days of hunting for phantom
weapons of mass destruction and limiting the rights of individuals. We as a
society will be sent back to the shadows to allow our government to lurk in
secret arm-in-arm transactions. With all policy aside, this alone should make
your spine shiver.
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