Damned, Anyway

It's tough being the president of the United States. Rarely loved, occasionally appreciated, sometimes trusted and often blamed. But then, those are the consequences of daring to present as the human being most capable of solving the problems of the country and by extension some of the problems plaguing the world at large. Barack Obama has extended himself ferociously, attempting to represent all solutions to all situations.

That he has failed so often simply speaks to the constraints of his humanity. Because he is fundamentally decent and responsible and honest he somehow feels, quite erroneously and unfortunately, that he must first extend the opportunity to others to be decent, responsible and honest, before he resorts to accepting the truth; that they are not interested in and will not ever reflect those basic tenets of humanity.

This, perhaps, is his most steep learning curve, during his first year of his first tenure as President of the United States. He has high expectations for others, just as he presents himself as the featuring classic image of the peerless idealist. And there's the rub. Idealism is comforting, but it has its decided limits. It's when the birds stop singing, and the road stops just at a yawning crevasse that idealism must surrender to practical need.

Mr. Obama would do well to put away his swashbuckling lecturer's cape. His verbose and airily opaque assurances that all will be well if we but collectively pray strenuously enough is stale and tediously tiresome. These are not, let us hope, his real strengths. Those have yet to be revealed. But the constancy of his calm demeanor and his indefatigable search for balance and justice may yet reveal the core of a champion.

Only time will tell. It is sad that those Americans whose hope for their future with the ascension of the first black president of their country has been disappointed. In the meagre space of one governing year, when a global financial crisis, a global nuclear crisis on a number of fronts, regional fighting, global climate change, the necessity to effect a universal medical insurance plan for his country assail his attention do we yet anticipate miracles?

Did I overlook the courting of Islamic countries, dancing a one-step forward, two-steps back, with China, Russia, North Korea, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East as absorbing some additional weight of his time and efforts? And the Nobel Peace Prize, remember that? So, all you African-American just-plain-folks, kindly keep in mind that you have a huge aristocratic demographic - and what have they accomplished on behalf of their brethren?

Give the man some space. He has mentioned in passing that "People need to understand that one out of every five African-Americans do not have health care. Nobody stands to gain more from this health-care bill passing." Of course, if the African-American population had an employment rate that roughly equated with that of other Americans it would help, immeasurably.

There is a good degree of racism, and always will be. But who is to blame for the cultural-social backwardness, the teen pregnancies, the young men engaged profitably in the drug trade through street gangs, with the prevailing wisdom that only losers need a steady job? A 15.4% unemployment rate is staggering, even more so 34.5% among 16 to 24-year-old blacks. Find value in attending school to its conclusion.

Look within as well as without for answers to this cultural-social dilemma. If Barack Obama, a bi-racial child of America could break the bonds of racism, so can others, many others, if they too apply themselves to measuring value against meaningless existence. There is such a thing as free choice and all are imbued with it, though not all experience the opportunities which make free choice possible.

The man's making an effort. Let us sincerely hope that his efforts, prodigious though they seem, yet unavailing, will eventually resonate where and when it matters. Rhetoric aside.