Attention Must Be Paid

[AFK]

In 3 and a half hours from now, the United States of America will welcome its 44th President.  President Barack Obama.  And a new era will begin, hopefully.

No, I'm not talking about some touchy-feely, bleeding-heart-liberal, MLKjr, kinda era.  I'm talking about a new era for us in the peanut gallery.  That is, the era of paying attention.

George W. Bush had something going for him his last term.  Those who hated him had written him off.  There was no need to pay attention to what he was doing because everything he was going to do was going to be steeped in failure.  By the time this recent Presidential Election got started, he only had the hearts and minds of 1/5th of the country.  And one has to assume that many of those are probably party loyalists who feel it is their sworn duty to support ANY Republican President.  It seemed like somewhere along the way, a majority of Americans, though they loathed W's performance as a President, decided, "Meh, we'll just wait him out", and then tuned out in favor of Dancing with the Stars.

So now we have this new guy coming in.  And in some sense, he still is a relative unknown, when you compare him to the typical life-span in DC politics.  It's clear that there are many who desperately want him to succeed.  I suspect even some of the fifth who still like W, would love to see Obama succeed, thought they'd be loathe to admit it in public.  There is a collective weight on our shoulders in the form of this failing economy.  We desperately want someone to come along and lift it.  We want someont to come along and succeed in lifting it.

But the key will be remembering that this is our burden to share with him.  The biggest role we have is to support his efforts.  That is, to support them by paying attention.  We cannot allow this "Hope for Change" to become insulation.  We cannot put so much trust in Obama that we stop paying attention.  Holding his feet to the fire when he walks astray will be our best contribution.  And we know the fifth will do that anyway.  The rest of us need to represent the rational and reasoned response.

At least, that's how I see it.  - Reverend What's-His-Name?

[Kai]

Yes.

[Requia ☣]

 

[Pope Lecherous]

But the key will be remembering that this is our burden to share with him.  The biggest role we have is to support his efforts.  That is, to support them by paying attention.  We cannot allow this “Hope for Change” to become insulation.  We cannot put so much trust in Obama that we stop paying attention.  Holding his feet to the fire when he walks astray will be our best contribution.  And we know the fifth will do that anyway.  The rest of us need to represent the rational and reasoned response.

At least, that’s how I see it.  - Reverend What’s-His-Name?

Good shit indeed.  He's made some moves in the right direction already. I'm just hoping they intend to follow through, vice these agendas getting "pushed " to boost favorable poll numbers.  i would be kinda be let down if he was just paying lip service and doesnt pursue the "more government transparency" policies talk. As you mentioned RWHN, if he didnt make good, the American people would need to light a fire under some asses

[Kai]

At a meeting I went to last night, we talked about how what a president puts on their resume isn't necessarily on their todo list. Theres what you're interested in, which could be a whole ton of things that you were able to put spin on to make look better, and then theres your plan of action. Furthermore, even if its on your plan of action that does not mean you will ever get around to it. Bush, for example, put Faith Based Initiatives as one of his major things on his plan and it floundered and people barely mention it anymore.

Right now, Obama is looking relatively neutral in regards to many of the things I'm interested in, which is so so so much better than the negative approach under the last president. I'm not saying its good enough, but its also not an automatic fail.

[AFK]

He "only" needs to do two things to become a "successful" President.  But they are monumental.

Shepard a recovering economy.  Since the economy has thus far worked on a roughly predictable cycle, it seems inevitable that it will eventually return to form.  Obama's job is to make sure it doesn't get fucked up in the process and see if he can somehow grease the skids to help it along.  If he could deliver on his plans for renewable and alternative energy resources, it would help quite a bit.

Draw down the troops in Iraq  The reality is, what Obama wants to do is pretty much a shell game, but a transparent one.  Draw down the troops in Iraq and ship some of them to Afghanistan.  If he is able to do that without Iraq going to hell, he'll be considered a hero.  If Iraq blows up when those troops leave, he's doomed. 

[Pope Lecherous]

Draw down the troops in Iraq  The reality is, what Obama wants to do is pretty much a shell game, but a transparent one.  Draw down the troops in Iraq and ship some of them to Afghanistan.  If he is able to do that without Iraq going to hell, he'll be considered a hero.  If Iraq blows up when those troops leave, he's doomed. 

I'm pretty sure it will go well. They want us out, so the "terrorists" will behave themselves for now.  Maybe a few months after the turn over to Iraqi forces they will begin to ramp up their activity.  I'm in kuwait right now, this place sucks.

[Requia ☣]

I appear to have forgotten to ask for permission to yoink this... bit late to ask too <_<

[AFK]

No problem.  Everything I post on pd.com, except my music of course, is kopyleft.  Just throw my name on it if you can.