Setting the Bar

Being on vacation for 5 days leading up to and then traveling on the day of the inauguration, I missed it other than the flight attendant saying "Just for your information, we now have a new president" as we sat on the tarmac in Charlotte waiting for out turn to be de-iced.

I honestly feel bad for Obama at this point. Not only does he face all the normal pressure a president has to deal with, he has all this added expectation from being the first black president. Then on top of that, he is being thrown into the situation our country is currently in. Let's be honest here. Any president taking over right now would have their work cut out for them. There is no easy answer. No quick fix.

Regardless of who you voted for or how your politics line up or how much you hated Bush, Obama is not going to suddenly make everything better. Yes it's a historic moment. I get it. The first black president.. blah blah blah. Does the color of his skin make him better at fixing the economy? Does it make his stance on health care or social security any better than if he was white? Congrats America, we have proven we are tolerant and not quite as racist as we were a couple of decades ago. So what?

You could parade a guy with an extra ear in the middle of his forhead up there dressed in a clown costume and he could still be a good president if he knew what he was doing. Stop focusing on appearances and skin color and focus on what they are saying and their actions. Bush was rediculous looking and made me laugh when he talked. That didn't make him a bad president. His actions and choices are what made him a good or bad president (depending on your opinion).

I hope that Obama knows what he is doing. I hope that this country has a good leader that can live up to even half of the rediculous expectations that are being put on him now. The bar has been set so high for him. Every president faces these high expectations that he can't possibly achieve, but because of the mess this country is right now and the fact that he is the first black president Obama is going to need his own personal jet pack to get over that bar.

I wish Obama the best of luck. I hope he can be the president this country needs right now and that people can let the rest of the circus go. Isn't the point in this day and age that we shouldn't care what color his skin is? So why is the media STILL so focused on it. Yes.. we got it. Its monumental and historic and ground breaking and all that. Bullshit. What will be monumental is if he can take the reigns and get this country headed back in the right direction. What I want to see is Obama remembered as a president that made a great positive impact on troubled nation. I want to see him remembered for his decisions, the changes he made and how he brought this country back from the brink. I want to see a history book 20 years from now that has pages and pages about how he did an amazing job as president.. and then a tiny little asterick and a footnote somewhere that says "Oh.. and he was the first black president as well, we almost forgot to mention that."

Unless I missed something, Obama is not Jesus, so I think everyone should stop expecting him to walk on water. I honestly hope he can make a positive impact on this country, but it won't happen overnight. Things are not all puppies and rainbows just because Bush is out of there and we have a black democrat as president. I wish Obama the best of luck dealing with all he has to. Its going to take a strong man with a thick hide to make it through what he is going to have to deal with.

If he wants to hit the ground running and make a good impression on me, he should invade France. By himself. Armed only with a shovel. Im pretty sure he could take France like that. How cool would it be to turn on CNN and see Obama running around smacking French mimes in the face with a shovel? Hell, you could sell that on Pay-per-view to other countries and maybe make up some of our trade deficit. Why is it that whenever I think of the French I think of mimes anyway?

Edit: Apparently I am not the only one that likes the idea of Obama beating down a french mime with a shovel. This picture she made for me cracks me the hell up so I had to share.