The Washington Post has been prowling around the Delta talking to people about Obama and came up with an
article today about the dangers of lofty expectations. It contains a few quotes worth quoting from the former mayor of Hollandale, MS, starting with this one:
"There were some people who'd never voted because they'd never seen the point in voting," she said. "Barack has made them believe; Barack has given them hope."
And that's a good thing. Having all Americans invested not only our future but our past is perhaps the biggest upside of an Obama presidency. He's taken pains to script his recent speeches with reminders of American patriots and how their courage ties into modern day promises, which compels his minority followers to take at least a partial, if not full ownership of the history that propelled Obama to the White House. The American dream actually worked! But Ms. Perkins also made a party-pooping observation (and a prediction):
"I know some people will be disillusioned if their lives don't change much in the next eight years," she says. "Even with Barack in there, they don't really believe in the system -- they think it's lowdown, dirty, dog-eat-dog. But they're giving it a chance now because of him. A lot is at stake. If it doesn't work out, there'll be more apathy and anger than ever. People will really be dogging him."
[Emphasis added to point out that at current levels of optimism he's apparently already been pre-elected for 2012 without a race.]
Sure, this is largely an attempt by the media to lower the stratospheric expectations they helped him create but Ms. Perkins is correct regards the downside of any failures that manage to slip through the liberal media's mosquito nets. It's not as if Barack, either through his own promises or via those of starry-eyed supporters, hasn't promised to:
- Change Earth's climate and sea level;
- Stop a war in Iraq whether the warring parties agree or not;
- Send Osama bin Laden to hell;
- Solve a major international financial crisis;
- Provide affordable health care for all without raising taxes;
- Solve the illegal immigration problem;
- Solve the Social Security problem;
- Stop nuclear proliferation;
- Lower almost everyones' taxes and give checks to those who don't even owe them;
- And restore America's image in the world even though that image gave birth to Osama bin Laden when Bush was governor of Texas.
Because he has. Hey, they say everyone should set goals.
Perhaps a poll of Obama voters might reveal exactly what they expect from the Federal Government under Obama's
rule leadership. Presumably it might be higher-paying jobs via the redistribution process laid out to Samuel Joe the Plumber on that Ohio street, but unless Obama can somehow force entrepreneurs and venture capitalists into areas that have little chance of providing much return he'll be hard-pressed to change things very fast, especially the way the government works.
We've heard that nearly everyone except Rush Limbaugh wants Obama to succeed (Rush is being a literalist in that Obama basically ran as a socialist) but if widespread sweetness and light fail to materialize he may have to take the hit after entering-on-duty as the Great Fixer. The media won't give up on blaming Bush but if things are bad enough even they won't be able to hide the discontent. Worse case--the largest case of political apathy ever.
But silver linings might exist. A less than perfect Obama presidency might reveal that a) Bush wasn't as bad as polls now indicate, b) skin color isn't always a factor and c) earthly messiahs can ofttimes be misunderstood and disappointing just like the original version. Such might help things down the road.
An American disaster is going on right now and few are paying close attention. There's no Katrina-like outcry; no Geraldo crying on live TV. But thousands of residents in middle America are struggling just the same:
