President-Elect Obama appeared on Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw this morning, and although there were no big announcements made, he was his usual steady, thoughtful, and pragmatic self. Can you imagine George W. being interviewed by Brokaw before he even was sworn in? I can’t imagine GWB ever giving Brokaw an hour’s interview, even if GWB had the questions beforehand. Oh, I know those that can only criticize Obama will be critical of any and everything he said or did not say, but for me, considering that he is still more than 40 days away from even being the President I liked his steady and thoughtful demeanor. When asked by Brokaw should a tax be put on gasoline to drive the price back to $4 and give new taxes for green technology, his answer was that in a time when people were losing jobs, perhaps homes, that to drive the price back up would be a bad idea. I doubt Brokaw has pumped any gas in quite awhile but if he has, he did not really care what the price was. It is so very easy to forget that $20 is a lot of money to a lot of people but Obama did not come from this background, in that he watched his mother use food stamps and no matter how much money he now has, he will always remember.
He reminded us once again, that this economy is not going to recover quickly and will get worse, but that his team is working and that we will see stimulus programs shortly after he takes office. Of course one can say, “same old rhetoric”, but what would we have him say? There ARE NO easy answers here and we might as well all get adjusted to that. Tough times are here and will be here but that does not mean we cannot find our way out. I continue to believe, that he will move us in a new direction, that I will not always agree with him, but he is and will be the President for the next 4 years and it will be wise for all of us to give him a chance to begin to rebuild not only our economy, but our moral compass, as well as our standing in the world. If not him------who?
