I
wish it was easier! At times the President plays rope a dope. At other times he
goes on the offensive and attacks his opponent in ways that I don't believe are
Presidential. But he and his handlers knew he would be straddled with a rough
recovery and now real questions about whether or not the world is a safer
place. Timing is everything and the President's personal popularity might be
enough to carry him over the finish line. Then again it might not.
I
was hoping for more and allowed myself to suspend reality just a bit in the
final days of the 2008 campaign and inhale some of the stardust that Obama and
his minyons spread around so thoroughly. But the stardust is gone now and
millions of people are wandering around jobless and forlorn after way too much
unsuccessful searching and I must admit that I am one of them.
I'm
not sure Obama would win if he took responsibility for not living up to his
marketing. But I think he has to say some version of I tried, I fought for you,
I learned many lessons and I will apply them better in a second term with your
help, to get those undecided voters that he needs to gain a second term. I don't
have a crystal ball, but a lot of people; Democrats, Republicans and Independents
alike need to believe that the President will change his game in the next four years
to make the concessions necessary to end the gridlock and bring a broken nation
back together.
It
requires leadership that means being in the room, going down the street
personally to Capitol Hill and inviting legislators from both parties to the
White House often. It means getting intimately involved in the legislative
process and building new coalitions on single issues and all the bipartisanship
that is necessary to move Spaceship America forward in a 21st
century that requires all hands on deck.
We
sat in our homes and watched four debates, listened to pundits parse every
nuance and read the headlines on how Romney looked Presidential or Obama's Horses and Bayonets' statement went viral. We
have to get up, get out and work for this one because the other side is
spending the money, honing its message and busily convincing the electorate
that things are as bad as they are and that it is our President's fault. We
have to get up, go out and work for this one because Obama can do better with
our help and we simply can't afford to give the keys to the other guy.
The
world is a crazy wild place that needs careful stewardship and no matter what
Mitt Romney says and how well he stays on script he owes too much to the
neo-cons and Sheldon Adelson to be given the White House at this critical
juncture. We must work together now to re-elect Barack Obama and hold his feet
to the fire once he is elected so that he earns his Nobel Peace Prize and
builds all the political coalitions that are necessary to reinvigorate our
economy and insure that we remain the one great and endearing power that is wedded
to freedom, human rights and justice for all people here and across the globe.
