Notes of Concern…
…Jackson Blair
Unfortunate Turn
Four years ago Barack Obama presented to the
American people an idealized way of looking at politics. He wanted to offer
hope. His candidacy involved a lot of idealism. He did not bring with him a
great deal of applicable previous life experience, but his oratory and dreams
inspired many.
Richard Nixon once used the phrase “the lift
of a driving dream.” Obama breathed hope into a great many people. He was
elected President of the United States not because anyone thought his previous
work experience suggested he would be a great president but because his high
ideals and lofty rhetoric gave hope to so many.
Four years have passed.
Unemployment is up.
Housing is down.
Social welfare programs are overburdened.
International hotspots are seemingly out of
control.
The list is endless.
But none of this bothers me as much as the
change in his persona. He is running against a Mormon who does not drink, works
as a missionary, serves his church, donates millions each year to charity, was
a Republican Governor in the most Democratic state in the union, loves
athletics, championed and supported his wife through her multiple sclerosis and
her cancer, and raised five seemingly fine sons.
Yet the sitting President of the United
States has intimated that Governor Romney is a felon, a bull-shitter, a liar,
and somehow unsuited to the job.
These are pretty graphic comments for a man
of high ideals, a man who supposedly is above political dirty tricks.
More than that, they are the charges of a
desperate man, a man who thinks he might actually lose his presidency.
Whatever the reasons, pragmatic or just
evidence of a side to this man we did not see four years ago, they are
off-putting to me.
I have written before of demonization. I hate
it. It is especially distasteful when we are talking about the presidency of
our country.
Governor Romney has criticized the
president’s programs and policies. He has been steadfast in his criticism of
what he sees as a failed presidency. Having said that, I have not heard or read
any personal criticisms of the president. Governor Romney talks about failed
policies and programs and a disappointing leadership model.
President Obama may well be given a second
term by the people of the United States.
However, the lofty image he brought to his
first campaign is gone forever. Today he is simply another politician willing
to do or say whatever is necessary to keep a hold on power.
I had the privilege of meeting or knowing or
working with George H.W. Bush, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford,
Jimmy Carter, Harry Truman and many other people who lived and worked in the
world of politics. It has not been my experience that unleashing personal
attacks on one’s opponent has been key to winning the hearts and minds of the
voters.
It is my hope that these frantic last minute
attacks of a personal nature will backfire. That being said, I have been around
politics long enough to know that they might just work.
Sadly, that says a lot about us, the voters.
