The President We Deserve

I was thoroughly livid to see my favorite politician on the cover of TIME magazine; with the bold title 'Why Barack Obama Could Be The Next President.' I was disturbed because the first stages of absolute demise in this culture begins with attention, which no matter what the truth, will always be seen as unwarranted. All this to say that I would hate to see the best candidate for the job overexposed so early on in the race.

But then I woke up and said, damn! Obama's on the cover of TIME magazine! So obviously I am of two minds. I am glad that the next savior of this our free world - I'm not mincing words, trust me, I've looked to Washington, and he's it - can be seen in the visage of a Black man, but I am also held back in my evangelism of the Obama Gospel, by the fact that this man is but a babe in the oh so shrewd world of politics, and disregarding my 'gut feeling,' of his absolute rightness for the role, there will be those who disregard him entirely because he is so inexperienced.

Joe Klein's article, while trying very hard to be fair-minded (as is the senator's platform), nevertheless comes off extremely judgmental; placing very high stakes on Obama's lack of 'bold,' which he defines as the ability to say loudly, proudly, if slightly obnoxiously, 'I am the savior, because...' It made me uneasy to put this man under so much pressure so soon, but what made me even more uneasy was my own instinctive cringe at some of the senator's more 'centrist' ideologies.

I consider myself fair, centered, but it is a testament to the state of social discourse in this country - whether in reality or as portrayed by the media (which in earnest comes to the same thing as we are all so quick to internalize) - that I suddenly saw this senator, this savior as I proclaimed, as 'weak' after the article's profiling. He came off as unsure of his goals, which after a second read, I saw as wholly untrue. What I took for weakness on first glance, was just his fair-minded-speak, slightly twisted in Joe Klein's hands.

So this is my fear, how many second reads will the senator get when the time is nigh? Very few I suspect, as most will get their news on the go, in flashes of images and loud newspeak. And if this country is now so polarized that a call for fairness gets no heed, are we ready for a good president? Perhaps George W. Bush, and whatever extremist comes after him, red, blue or green (hold your scoffs), is the president we deserve.

The moral of the day? Always read it again! This is my small attempt to spread that often said, rarely practiced gen-Xism - 'question everything,' and I would add, 'even yourself.' For when the faith of the free world is literally at stake, again not mincing words, it would not kill us to think critically.