Get Out of Jail Free

I was discussing the economy with a friend the other day, is it improving or getting worse? We didn’t seem to be able to move too far beyond whether the economy is simply driven by optimism or by measures more tangible (not much more) such as the employment rate. And if perchance employment is a key characteristic, what is the appropriate way to get more people working? None of it is clear. What is clear, however, is that whatever President Obama might suggest, the critics from the right, the Republicans, my conservative party, will be quick to label the approach as a step toward socialism.

I can’t solve all of the Country’s problems with this blog. What I can do is announce to all who will listen that I am tired of being part of this problem. Partisan politics, to me, is the biggest problem we face. Glenn Beck has said that too, but he is a fraud because he demonstrates again and again that he is not bipartisan. That’s not what we need. What we need is simple cooperation. I, for one, am willing to cooperate. I am ready to vote for something, anything that will move us forward and not get stalled in a debate.

There is an agenda before the country, one that includes the environment and healthcare and perhaps some big jobs programs. Some of us are in love with these programs and some of us hate them to our very core. The truth is anything we can possibly do in any of these areas will be big and costly. Even if we do nothing, there will still be big problems to solve and that will cost a great deal of money. All we really are doing is shifting subtle degrees of control from one group with some warped bent towards a guiding principal that with the complexities of society today, probably ceased to exist long ago. And if one group has their way, they will be momentarily happy while the other group will be seeing red, before the balance of power either shifts back or the solution that one group thought was to their benefit ceases to be.

The Republican backlash against President Obama continues to astound me. Yes I voted for McCain. But once he was President -- I'm was all in. He is the President and since I am tied to the military, my Commander in Chief. To speak out against his policies is as American as apple pie. To speak out against him as the President is an act of treason. We, as American’s, back the institution of the President of the United States regardless of who sits in the chair. That privilege is bestowed upon the individual on the day they begin – they don’t have to earn it. They can screw it up over time, but when first elected, we owe it to our Country to stand behind them and let them lead or we need get out of the way. They were already given the job. You don’t hire someone who is not qualified to be there. Once the President is elected he is hired and therefore deemed qualified to begin to well and faithfully execute the position. There is no on the job training or probation period. Critics and naysayers are not our President.

We now have been given yet another institution to consider. We now have a sitting President who has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Call me sentimental but to me it is so awesome for our Country that President Obama has won this prize that l get goose bumps. If this isn’t a favorable vote for our United States in the eyes of the world, I don’t know what else could be. You could look at it as a vote against the old administration, but that would serve no forward or higher purpose, a meaningless mental exercise. You could say President Obama hasn’t earned the honor, but that also would be a meaningless exercise since he has in fact won, and just like the Institution of the Presidency, he is now it’s Institution.

For those nit wits who might think the Noble Prize is an award for good work, would be the same nit wits who think becoming elected President is the challenge, without an actual plan to do anything once in office. The Nobel Peace Prize is set apart from the other prizes. Once you are a winner, you are the embodiment of the institution for as long as you are alive. This cannot be made any clearer because the Prize cannot, should not, and has never been awarded Post Humorously. Otherwise, Gandhi surely would have been a recipient by now. The fact it is, the Prize represents what was done but it also represents what has been left undone.

President Obama stopped being Barack Obama and became leader of the free world as a black man with a Muslim name the day we elected him. That, in and of itself, was the necessary accomplishment. Whether or not he ever succeeds at anything during his administration doesn't matter. His accomplishment, and now this award, will always stand. His appointment as leader of the free world has just been confirmed by a great representation of the free world. It's a victory for all of us and we have to be proud of this accomplishment -- because we elected him. I didn't vote for him but I am still proud of our Country for electing him and proud of him as our President.

If the Country is too blind to see that one man did not win the Nobel Peace Prize. One Country, Under God, and Dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal won the Nobel Peace Prize. President Obama’s achievement was to be elected by us, to be the leader of the Free World. It is our Institution and our place in the world that now has the legacy of Peace lain at our feet. If we are too blind to see that the Prize belongs to us, as an institution, just like the institution of the Presidency belongs to us the people, we are too blind to see that things are looking up. This is the time we ought to pull together; the world is giving us a get out of jail free card. All we have to do is take it.