Monday, January 05, 2009

Nattering Naybobs of Negativity

I have decided I am already fed up with what President-elect Barack Obama is doing to our country, and he's not even in office yet. It's really not his fault, and it's really not anything different from past regime changes on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Maybe I'm a little thinner-skinned, or just not as tolerant of the hand-wringing, whining and gnashing of teeth. Or maybe it's because I'm really fed up with the partisans, and just want the people we send to Washington, from the President on down, to fix a few things, and I don't care who gets the credit.
Just do it.

Someone sent me an e-mail this afternoon with a link on it (which I am not going to share with you) which shows how long we have until Mr. Obama is no longer our president. While my first reaction was a bit of a twitchy kind of smirk, after I thought about it for nano-second, it made me mad.

How would you like to interview for a new job, win the position, and before you can move into your cubicle, office, or throne room, there's an office pool on how long you're going to last?
Or how long folks have got to out-last you.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did not vote for Mr. Obama. I haven't voted for a Democrat for President EVER. I have voted for individuals who were wonderful representatives, statesmen and stateswomen, who happened to swing on the Democratic side of the street, but that fact was incidental to my voting decision. I have good friends to this day that are card-carrying Democrats, doing a fine job of performing their duties in office.

Further, I am not on any mind-altering prescription drugs (or recreational pharmaceuticals). You might say I am sober as a judge, but anymore that description rings a bit hollow. I'm not going soft on Liberals, and I'm not veering Left with my moral compass.

I just think we need to give this guy an even chance.
Look, how much worse could he make things than they already are?
(Don't answer that.)

Barack Obama got to where he is--President-elect of the Free World--because he's got game. He convinced more voters than any of the others that he was the best pick for the gig. Paint the election any color you want (no pun intended), that's the bottom line.

He's not an idiot, and he seems to have enough sense to ask for help from people smarter/more-experienced than he is in areas where he's lacking. I would hope the same description would apply to you or me.
In any situation.

So the idea of counting the days (1475-), hours (18-), minutes (16-), and seconds (!) until Barack Obama's first term ends, before it has even begun, to me is a little self-defeating. It's like telling your kid he'll never amount to anything, and then shoving it down his throat when he fulfills such a bleak prophecy.

Barack Obama was not my candidate, but he is my President. Frankly, I rather see him--and the United States--succeed beyond our wildest dreams under his leadership, than watch him fail, and bring us all down with him.

If you're not with him, you're against him.
He's going to be in charge--and that doesn't mean the President will have carte blanc (remember Hillary's First Lady-dom?) So the question comes down to whether or not you're going to be for America, as led by Barack Obama, or against it.

Doesn't mean we cannot be critical--we need to be.
Constructive criticism is healthy and needful.
Doesn't mean we cannot closely scrutinize every move in the Obamian White House (will that be an oxymoron after January 20th?)

We should watch the lot of them in Washington, because they're frittering with our dollars, and give them all plenty of feedback.
That's the American Way.
Last time I checked, it wasn't too smart to bet against the house.

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