The Presidency and the Art of Being Alone

As many pundits and journalists get their end of the year/end of the decade lists ready, there is no doubt in my mind that many will highlight the history making inauguration of President Barrack Obama. For many Americans, myself included, watching the first African American/bi-racial American become President of the United States was a monumental event. Eleven months later however much of the country has a bit of a different view of our President. In fact there are times when I watch our President speak I keep coming back to this idea of President Obama being alone. The art of compromise is a tough one. It is a balancing act of epic proportions. Obama made it clear that he wanted to unite all Americans regardless race, class, gender or party affiliation. He learned this past year that this was indeed easier said than done. It's within these eleven months I have learned just how lonely it can be when you are President. At times it has been the missteps of the President and the White House that have put him in a corner. At other times it has been the impatience of an American populace that is desperate for results and also prone to criticize when its immediate needs are not met.

The year started off a bit rocky for our President. He was already in the middle of two wars overseas and he had an economic emergency to handle. To his credit President Obama hit the ground running. Even before his inauguration he was already building his cabinet and putting together a list of the best economic minds to deal with this fiscal crisis. He rushed to bail out the banks and the American auto industry to the chagrin of some on Capitol Hill. The Cash for Clunkers program seemed to be a hit with both the car industry and voters. He appointed the first Latina to the Supreme Court. He overturned the prohibition on federal funding for stem cell research and eased some restrictions on dealing with Cuba. As the year progressed there were issues with the vetting process or lack thereof when it came to some of his appointees. Our President tripped on his own two feet when he got involved in the dispute that led to Henry Louis Gates arrest in his own home. Did we really have to have a "beer summit" to deal with this? At times the President was blindsided by issues. He had no idea he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and when he won many celebrated but even his biggest supporters scratched their heads and wondered out loud, "what exactly did he do to win the award?" In America it's not enough to carry the political football in order to gain a few yards here and there. Americans want a touchdown. Americans want to see a decisive victory and Obama in his first year has yet to give his critics and supporters what they want. In many ways he has given us what we have needed but at this time it does not seem to be enough. Again it's not to say that our President has done nothing, but it does point out the ebb and flow of Americans and American politics. We love a come from behind/underdog victory (Are you taking notes Tiger?) but we also demand results. Those who may support you today may be the very same people who will criticize and scrutinize tomorrow, and this does not even count the folks who from day one were opposed to an Obama Presidency. The President seemed to win favor with the right (while alienating those on the left) by committing more troops to the war in Afghanistan. Once he announced this, there were some on the right that wondered out loud, "what took you so long". And yet many on the left feel betrayed. They just want our troops home. Many on the left seem to have forgotten that Obama campaigned heavily on the idea that he wanted us in Afghanistan as opposed to Iraq. Again, when these things happen Obama seems to be a man without a party, walking a political tightrope, alone. Even with all of the people around him advising him, President Obama seems to be waging a war of ideology with an American populace that is afraid of change but wants something done immediately.

And then there is the idea of race. Obama has done a tremendous job in downplaying the part that race has played. There was nothing he could do about people who voted against him because he is Black. He also could not do anything about folks voting for him solely because he is Black. During the election he took the focus off of his former reverend and put it back on the issues, where it belonged. This was the first time a president in our country had to deal with race as it pertained to himself and his own heritage. Just recently congress woman Maxine Waters came at Obama about the un-employment rate and how African Americans represent the group most un-employed and that Obama needed to do something about Black un-employment. Obama fought back by declaring that the work he is doing with regards to the fiscal crisis would indeed help ALL Americans. As a Bi-racial American Obama has spent much of his life trying to unite his own family across racial lines and the hope was he could bring about that same sensibility when it came to uniting the country. Again, it's a premise easier said than done, and like many biracial Americans who at times maneuver between two worlds, being caught in the middle can be a lonely place.

During the democratic national convention Obama looked straight in the camera on the last night and he told America who he was and he spelled out his plans for change. He came off strong and his attitude was not one of asking but of telling Americans the path we were going to forge together. That's what we may need now. Obama needs to keep trying to unite Americans but with some issues he can also flex his presidential will and tell us what needs to happen and what is going to happen, critics be damned. In public education there are times when teachers/administration need to negotiate with students and parents and there at times when parents and students need to be told, "This is how it's going to be". As the year comes to a close our President is close to hammering out a health care reform bill. The closer we get to this; the more I hope we will see Obama the fighter. I hope our president will be able to flex his political muscles and let folks know that this is what is going to happen and "this is how it's going to be" because it's the right thing to do. If and when it happens I hope supporters and naysayers alike will stand with our President as a show of support or at least respect our President for taking a stand and pushing his agenda through. As he tackles the war in Afghanistan and deals with unemployment my gut feeling is that he will have a few victories around the corner. I am sure that our President will give the country the victories they want while showing the country the pragmatic vision we need. As President Obama moves forward on these pressing issues let's try and work with our President, support him, criticize him constructively and let him know he deals with these issues not alone but with the hearts and minds of all Americans.