by Tina Grazier
After the planes crashed and the buildings came down on 9/11, and as the painful process of searching for bodies and cleaning away the rubble played out on our TV screens, I saw a determined president standing tall for our country and the world. He was a man ready and willing to take on a challenge no one had ever faced before. I saw a man who carefully made plans and executed them with confidence and authority. He was resolute in the face of a dangerous enemy that had hoped to see America weak and frightened. George Bush was a strong leader with the face of a warrior prepared to do whatever was necessary to keep Americans safe. The task ahead was not about him or his leadership style, it was about the safety of others, a whole world of innocent others who were counting on him to lead the fight and defeat the terrorists. As the war continued, and proved difficult most in the press and many in the opposition party, irresponsibly saw the president quite differently and began to take every opportunity to undermine his efforts.They labeled our president “arrogant”.
Today we continue to be involved in the “long war,” a term coined by General John P. Abizaid. It was adopted by President Bush, according to the article, in order to “underscore the long-term challenge posed by al Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups.” As far as I can tell there is no indication that the war will be over soon or that some grand Obama plan will bring instant and miraculous results. In fact it will most likely continue to be, to borrow a phrase from Donald Rumsfeld, “a long hard slog”.
President Obama should have the full support of our nation as he fights this battle. I won’t deny him that. Fortunately, the President enjoys certain advantages as Commander-in-Chief that were denied to George W. Bush. Anti-war activists are silent even though bombings continue in the Middle East and our troops and innocents continue to lose life and limb. The press is on this president’s team even though our own brave troops continue to be in harms way and people are still being “driven from their homes”. The war continues much as before yet the language (and tone) used to describe this president and this war is very different. In fact, many in the press go out of their way to drool over the presidents every word. Yes, I said drool! The term is, admittedly, one generally reserved for beauty queens or hot-fudge sundaes but there is no better way to describe…well…consider what Jon Meacham has to say in his article, “A Conversation with Barack Obama – What he’s like now,” published in Newsweek:
** “…the frustrations of life as a senator, much less those of a community organizer, have given way to a palpable feeling of authority and effectiveness. What he says, what he does, what he decides: it matters, all of it, and he loves that. **
Oh…goodie gumdrops!
** What he has learned is that he likes, and enjoys, power–the capacity to shape reality in his image and by his lights–and that he finds crisis defining, bracing and useful. That a president feels suited to power is hardly a startling observation, but that Obama so revels in it–in the understated way Obama revels in anything–confounds the competing popular impressions of his persona. Many of his followers see him as the embodiment of a kind of utopian progressive politics in which the brute application of power is pass, a relic of the ruins of the Age of Bush and Cheney. Many of his critics, meanwhile, think him weak, a crypto-socialist one-worlder who wants to offer rogue nations tea and sympathy. *** The experience of his first months in office suggests that both camps need to recalibrate in light of new facts on the ground. In Obama’s universe, strength and subtlety are not mutually exclusive. He may make the wrong call–things could go disastrously awry, at home or abroad, on his watch–but one of the most interesting and underappreciated things to emerge from these early days is how comfortable Obama is in making the call. He savors exercising the power of the presidency. Woodrow Wilson described the office as “the vital place of action in the system.” From the financial sector to the automobile industry to terrorism, Obama has personally taken on those institutional characteristics. He is the action. **
The author manages to say that whatever is going on in the world is irrelevant…it’s all good! (’cause he’s “comfortable” in the position)
The entire piece conveys a trait common to both the President and his drooling admirers, everything is about them! The columnist is not an observer or critic of the presidents performance as our leader…he fawns and drools over demeanor, style, and the personal gratification involved in the experience. The President is not seen as a servant of and for the people, it is enough that he is a man who “enjoys power,” that he is a man with “the capacity to shape reality in his image and by his lights”.
Oh please…”Shape reality in his image and by his lights”…you tell me is this not arrogance?