Turning Crisis into Opportunity

In case you haven't heard him lately, President Barack Obama wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post today. It is a helpful tool for showing the basic structure of his speeches and a 'teaching moment', as Rush would say if there was a golden microphone in Hawaii, about his political techniques.

Rarely, despite years of being inundated by his campaign, have I felt so offended by his sweeping rhetoric describing what "everyone" has come to believe, what "all Americans" want and expect. I do not imagine Obama has had the opportunity to enjoy my blog, but I am more than sure he has heard the voices of opposition to this plan, be they citizens or elected officials. To decry the sentiments of so large a percentage of the nation he leads is outrageous. And his method is heavy-handed, ill spirited, and obvious.

Obama won the Presidency by appealing to the overwhelming antipathy for George W. Bush as well as the general desires of the have-nots and the altruism of the haves. The slogan was "Change" which is short for "Change whatever Bush or Reagan did" or simply "Change America into Europe." But after only two weeks of being in office, the message has become "Fear".

Obama writes that if we do not take action and pass the stimulus, "our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." What he fails to realize in this blatant attempt at encouraging demoralized panic-voting, is that his hypocrisy is starting to be noticed by the zombies who chose not to get to know him earlier and instead supported an ideal.

In the same article where you claim Americans require action that matches the urgency of their daily lives, you can't also write that Americans are patient enough to know that recovery "will be measured in years, not months." It just doesn't come across as genuine without the audio and video components.

He shows us his hand again when he redefines the stimulus from a "prescription for short-term spending" to a strategy for reworking health care, renewable energy, and education. At least he is telling us the truth, boldly and without reservation, that this economic crisis is a chance for him to alter our government to fit his beliefs in one fell swoop. He lies about the effect the stimulus will have, but that can be attributed to inexperience, a long-known characteristic of this administration.

It is a different thing entirely to put words in our mouth, to tell me what it is I want and need and think and feel, which is perfectly representative of what his post-stimulus government would begin to look like. "[O]ur destiny isn't written for us, but by us" he writes. What it should be is "Your destiny isn't written for you, but by you."

I am not part of a collective. I am a free citizen of a united state, and I control my own fate. (Up to a point, of course. No offense intended to God.)

I have never felt the victim of such an offensive act of attempted manipulation by a President of America, and that is probably why it is good to be young. Another good thing is the ability to rebound from cynicism and shock rather quickly, and embrace the strong possibility that more and more people are reading his words, receiving his message, and thinking for themselves.

This crisis certainly is an opportunity, Mr. President.