The President We Deserve
You get into your 40’s and being liked by your fellow man lacks luster. So here it goes. I love Barack Obama. What’s there not to like? The man is handsome, well-spoken, loves his wife, has two beautiful little girls, is self-made, has a great compelling life story, and no matter what surfaces about him, he handles himself with such grace and impeccable oratory skills that we want to believe. We need to believe.
We can have it all. Why shouldn’t we? Barack Obama tells us we should be able to have it all. Most of us, we are repeatedly told, are hard working Americans with excellent judgment who have struggled all our lives and cannot seem to get ahead. The American Dream is snatched from our grip by conniving corporations who oppress us; rich people who look down on us; a boss who exploits us; a government who spends our hard earned money in unnecessary wars and tax breaks to the rich.
Please, Barack, make it all go away now.
As we are lifted into Nirvana by the passionate eloquence and ultra-cool demeanor of our President-in-waiting, we cannot wait to cash in on all the new rights that are coming our way. Healthcare insurance, which is amendment 11 on our Bill of Rights, will finally be provided and paid for by the government. They say there are 50 million Americans without healthcare insurance today – I wonder how many of these 50 million have a car, a flat-panel T.V, a cell phone, an iPod and the latest version of Grand Theft Auto. You see, I believe that if we have a choice between what we “must” have and what we really need/should have, we will choose the former.
The federal government can and must take care of our inalienable rights. It’s in the constitution, isn’t it? The government, meaning, people who can afford it. Those 1% who carry 99% of our constituents. So go ahead, roll back those “tax cuts for the rich” – how else can we afford universal healthcare, extended unemployment benefits, checks in the mail for us and our children, subsidized housing, etc. etc, etc.
But please make sure that while the rich are paying more money, they also continue to create good high paying jobs for the rest of us. Tax any investment capital heavily, offer no relief in capital improvement expenditures, make sure we penalize businesses small and large for trying to find cheaper labor overseas, close any foreign markets that may buy our products and eliminate any and all loopholes that will stimulate business growth, because that may also make the rich richer – and that’s no good.
This election is indeed historic, but for more reasons than the obvious ones noticeable by all. Our country is at a crossroad between personal responsibility and the “feel good” mentality we have been slipping into for decades.
You do not incur credit card debt if you cannot afford it; you do not have children until you are ready to take care of them; you do not buy a house beyond your means just because someone is willing to give you a big loan; you do not spend more than you make; you do not expect the government to bail you out of your bad decisions.
I do not blame all who have fallen onto hard times. But I do feel that we have bought a bill of goods that is unsustainable. Advertising everywhere for the latest “must haves” and access to easy credit make us all hostage to a way of life that will eventually catch up to us. And then we call for “Change”, “Yes We Can”, “Hope”, and the endless litany of pretty words that lift us. The last thing we need right now is a good spanking from the leaders who prey on our need for more stuff for less effort.
That, indeed, would be change.
President Barack Obama is where we have been headed since, I believe, we threw our bras out the window, among other things. It is certainly a defining moment in our country’s history. We deserve nothing less than an inspiring leader who has a promise for each of us! Yes, we can have it all. And I want it NOW!