Don't Forget, He and His Family Are Human Too
All this back and forth, and talking talking talking, schmatter schmatter schmatter....
Speculating over who is in his cabinet and who is in his past.
He's a man, he's just a man (borrowed that line from Jesus Christ Superstar, btw)
What kind of puppy? What kind of Supreme Court? What kind of leader will he be? Will he pardon everybody, close Gitmo? Will he last more than four years?
Jesus, he ain't even in the White House yet.
Chill, and let him be. Let him be.
Because so far, he's done a pretty damn good job of getting himself there.
Let him be, and let his family be, and let us all be mellow for a time.
It will do us a world of good.
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I think we're all having a hard time coming down from the intensity of the election cycle...
We were all so invested for such a long time, and now there is this...nothingness, for lack of a better word. I know that, at least for me, even though I used to have a perfectly satisfactory, if not wonderful, life, I'm having a hard time getting back to it. I have the litterings of my life all around me, tons of stuff that went undone, that need to get done, walks to take, meals to fix, people to get back in touch with, a garden that needs tending, magazines that used to interest me that need to get read or thrown away...I could go on and on, but you get the point.
Instead, I'm stuck in limbo, feeling like life is on hold until the 20th of January...The "crumbs" of news are all I have to keep me sane until then...So, although intellectually I know you are right, it's just hard to chill and to get back to the real world. I'm trying.
November 18, 2008 12:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, believe me, I hear you. And I want them to choose a very cute puppy.
I can't get enough of Barack and Michelle and the news, it's a very exciting time for all of us. But the nitpicking over every piece of gossip is just getting a little exasperating, no?
Obama needs this time to get his plans in gear and everybody in the news and the blogs are just tearing him to pieces like he's a dog's rawhide bone.
It's time to cook those meals, plant the gardens, wait, and chill, and bide our time. He said it himself: "There's still only one President right now".
November 18, 2008 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
He hasn't even had any down time to truly grieve for his grandmother.
Yet, it's the job he worked very hard to aquire. He knew what he was getting into, and he knew his life (and by extention, his family's) would be changed immeasurably. The cost already shows in his face, his greying hair. My heart goes out to him, but I know he can handle the weight.
November 18, 2008 1:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
You bring up a very good point, and one that I overlooked in my original post, barefooted....
....he knew what he was getting into.
That being said, you also mention the loss of his grandmother, a point that many people have not mentioned at all this past week. And the fact that he actually won this thing. I'm sure that in the back of their heads, Michelle and Joe Biden and even Barack Obama himself must've realized that they could've lost.
The realization of winning itself must take a toll. It's a whole new ballgame, a whole new world. And much as they new it might come....it's still new.
November 18, 2008 2:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
*knew, rather
That also being said, I know that he wanted this. We all know he wanted this. But the excitement generated by his breakthrough win is sometimes so hard to take in. And, unfortunately, so many people aren't ready for it still.
I just think that some space is entitled to him and his team, while they work through their plans. Two wars, an economy that sucks bigtime, it's a lot for a new President to take on.
If I didn't think he could handle it, I wouldn't have backed him for two years. I'd just like him to have the peace and space and freedom to decide what he has to decide in these important days to come, without all the BS from the media and us adoring and not-so-adoring people following every word and breath of his. That's all.
November 18, 2008 2:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
You suppose he hides in the bathroom once in awhile? Please tell me he's at least alone in there! ;)
November 18, 2008 6:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are so right on LisB! Take the chill pill, go for a hike, bike, run, walk, kayak, surf, whatever floats your... I can hardly believe that BHO didn't get a week or even a couple of days away from the scrutiny and pressure he has been under. Stillidealistic is right in that we're all coming down from the election cycle and we're still rev'd up trying to fill the void of the day to day concerns of getting our candidate elected. The man is so far ahead of the curve of any politician I've seen in my life, and let's not even think about comparisons to the 43d pres. Let's keep paying attention, but let's also not flog every news story that is little more than an editorial until we hear it from the Pres. elect himself.
November 18, 2008 2:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, exactly.
November 18, 2008 2:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
What I added in the other thread - it's the 24-hour news and commentary beast. And November sweeps.
No getting away from it. And people tune in, so the nets know they can sell the ad avails.
Walt Kelly had it right, back when he was draped over that Saigon bar - "We have met the enemy and they is us."
November 18, 2008 2:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hah! Draped over a bar in Saigon....
Yes, the news cycle just keeps rolling it on out....and we suck it up like the sucklings we are.
Heh. I'd rather be draped over a bar than be a suckling. LOL.
November 18, 2008 2:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes indeed. The story is somewhere in John Laurence's The Cat From Hue, a very good, rich, deep journo memoir about Vietnam. (Laurence was a CBS correspondent, probably best known for the program-length docco "The World of Charlie Company".)
November 18, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the reminder about the book, OG. I'll look for it.
And thank you, LisB, for raising the issue of letting Obama be..Obama. Joe Biden predicted that he will be tested within the first six months; however, he failed to add is that we will be tested in the interim. So, although I'm definitely not loving the Liebermann decision, I must defer to his best judgment.
I, for one, need to use this political lull by spending more time outside. Which I was just given the unexpected opportunity to do: I looked out the classroom window to watch our first snowfall and saw that Everest, the school horse I love, had apparently suffered a burst of irrational exuberance and jumped the fence in his paddock. The shock of seeing him heading for the highway resulted in an impromptu run I could have done without; however, to call him, and see his ears perk, and to then have him turn around to meet me half way was a gift of love (and fresh air) I had not anticipated. When he graciously lowered his great head so that I could more readily reach his halter (he's not called Everest for nothing) he looked at me, sort of proudly, as if to say: "Pretty clever, eh?" And once I assured him that he was very clever indeed, we had a little head bumping love fest on the way back to the stable.
Why is it so easy to forget the importance of fresh air and all creatures, great and small?
November 18, 2008 1:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a great story! I call it smelling the roses...how fun!
November 18, 2008 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I second that emotion.
November 18, 2008 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks.
Obama can't win: The intersection of our wants is empty.
Obama can't win: The realization of a promise is so different from our expectations of a promise.
Obama can't win: Why can't he close the deal on every one of the wishes of his 70,000,000 local fans?
Patience. I've waited over forty years since Bobby Kennedy's death and I can wait another year or two to savor this president.
Liebermann, Hillary, Rahm, FISA, war crimes, centrist, Hitlerite, puppy, war hawk, limited-modified drilling, Gitmo, nuclear power, tax increase, etc. -- PISS on Pre-Inauguration Stress Syndrome.
November 18, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
November 18, 2008 5:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Moi aussi.
November 18, 2008 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, Lis. Let's all inhale deeply through the nose... hold it... and exhale gently through the mouth. Repeat two more times.
November 18, 2008 9:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nope. He's already in it. We all are. And I'm sure he's already committed to working under or over the pop culture radar. All the Fox News, tabloid stuff is going to happen, and we should ignore it like he will.
He's a professional. He's young. He can make it to 2012 without a burnout.
I think I would do the same thing he's doing. I'll sleep when I'm dead.
There's no honeymoon.
November 24, 2008 11:20 AM | Reply | Permalink