When Barack Obama was running for President, I kept waiting for him to deliver his vision for the American future. If elected, what did he want the country to look like nationally and internationally in ten to twenty years? What did he want to stop spending money on -- and to start spending money on? What did he feel was the appropriate use of power abroad, with the U.S. currently entangled in an economic crisis and two wars that appeared to have no end? When I mentioned all this to a couple of friends, they said, “Your expectations are unrealistic. He can’t do this now. He’s still trying to win the presidency.” Well, he won convincingly almost two years ago and I still haven’t heard him give this speech.
Obama ran on the slogan of “Change You Can Believe In,” and I’m convinced that the people who put him in office actually do want change -- especially of the kind that moves us away from the previous Bush Administration and its view of America’s military role in the world. That Administration had a very clear blueprint for increasing the U.S.’s clout across the globe, by whatever means necessary, and quickly set about pursuing this. What is Obama’s vision, compared to Bush’s? What alternatives exist to invading other countries and trying to remake them from the ground up, at costs beyond the astronomical? What should America be doing in this regard in the 21st Century? I don’t know his views on these questions.
This is remarkable because he was such a stellar presidential campaigner. Sharing his thoughts and making speeches were his strengths, along with bringing his supporters together around winning the White House. Since doing so, he seems to have less confidence in expressing himself, instead of more. Leadership has both a real and a symbolic aspect. He’s been much better at the very real, behind-the-scenes, legislative arm-twisting that at acting like a true symbol of American change. Many of those who voted for him were not comfortable with the U.S. striding around the globe, invading other countries, and making our military presence the key ingredient of our foreign policy. They want America to re-define and refine its role in the world in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War. This is another way of saying that they want to spend less money on foreign intervention and more on domestic matters that can aid the American economy and help American citizens. The U.S. simply doesn’t have the financial resources to do everything it might want to right now, and it’s time to establish some priorities. I’ve never heard the President address this fundamental issue.
He grew up living in several different worlds at once, as a black child coming of age around white people. He must have tried very hard to keep the peace inside his family and himself. Today, it’s as if he doesn’t want to take too firm of a stand on anything because he still wants his enemies -- and they are many and they are bitter and they are loud -- to like him. Here’s a hint, Mr. President: they aren’t going to like you, ever. They aren’t going to be reasonable and logical. They aren’t going to try to find any common ground with you. They despise you, for their own personal reasons much more than for political reasons, and you will never understand the roots of their feelings. So stop trying.
There are more Americans outside of their camp than inside of it, as your election proved, and you need to trust that more than you have. If your relative youth says anything about you, it’s this: one day you’ll give up thinking that people are going to like or accept you for what you are. Some never will, and they are basically a waste of your time. This is your one and only opportunity to be the President of the United States and to pursue the things you truly want for this country. The chance is slipping through your fingers. Turn this around before it’s too late.
Let the haters hate and try to articulate your own vision for America. More people still believe in you and in real change than you realize. Don’t forget or dismiss the convictions and dreams of the people who put you where you are. They’re still behind you.