A lot of needs are expressed, a lot of hands are out and all of them are real. The man tells us it is in ours to do and most of our problems are self-made or of the last administration, and quotes Corinithians telling us in effect to grow up.
There are words of hope in that speech, but the beginning of political cover as well.
Now comes the test. As Truman said, "the buck stops here". The mettle of Obama and his team will be determined not by the words but by the deeds and further than that, by what they do if they fail.
Some will say that means we have all failed but failure in politics is never a shared commodity. The man who holds the title holds the ring and if he cannot wield it, he either accepts that or he casts about for others to take the blame.
Obama will be held both to his ideals and to his promises. Let's see how those priorities stack up to the realities of diminishing supply and increasing demand.
The weight has moved on and the stakes couldn't be higher.
1 comment:
Well said, Len. While I'm willing to do what I can to help the country, I don't think that's much more than I've been doing my entire working life...working and living a modest middle class life that is within my means; paying my taxes; giving to charity; raising my kids; helping friends, family and sometimes strangers in need. Trying to be a light, more than a critic (not that I haven't been a critic at times, I wasn't voted 'Most Opinionated' in the senior class for nothing). Nevertheless, I am only one of many, many hardworking (but for the most part voiceless and powerless) Americans who gave Obama my vote because I thought he was the guy who could put this country back into line with "the better angels of its nature". You are absolutely right. The true test of his leadership may not be what he gets done, but how he speaks of what doesn't get done.
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