Obama's Trickle-Down Equanimity

[bridgit]

'The other day I noticed that my husband had for the tenth time ruined the slick seasoned surface of my cast-iron skillet by scrubbing it with Brillo. I started to get ticked off, building up a tiny tornado of fury; boy, am I ever going to tell him. Again.

But then I thought, Would Obama let this get to him? That tall cool drink o' distilled water would never blast Michelle for a domestic faux-pas like this, but here I am going ballistic because my spouse tried to clean a pot? Then poof! (or plouffe!): my anger was gone.

Not to get all hagiographic about it, much less to liken the President-elect to "The One" (the name the McCainiac right sarcastically used to paint him as the false Messiah), but Barack Obama's calm, nonreactionary response to the worst that politics and economics can throw at him has begun to establish a new emotional policy: trickle-down equanimity.

If Obama could forgive Lieberman, if he could make Hillary his secretary of state, if he can now refuse to vilify Bush, Paulson, and the entire GOP-enabled greed machine for destroying lives and the economy, then surely I could let my anger over petty slights melt away.'

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/state_of_change/386837?rel=hp_picks

[Clio the Leo]

1. ha ha! Love it! So true!

I am in sales and I find myself saying "Now what would Barack Obama do" when I'm dealing with a difficult customer.

I find that I'm smiling and touching people on the shoulder a lot more. lol

[bridgit]

4. heh-heh, good one. We do allot of loss/prevention, media/product placment...

operational compliance stuff like that so we deal with clients (same as customers :)) that have their concerns. That's when my husband steps out front and does what he calls 'gripping & grinning' or alternately 'smoking & joking' and soon the matter is better, whew! He does the shoulder/elbow thing too, just a friendly little tap-tap :hi:

[glowing]

2. I don't think he should be so nice to Bush and Paulson.. sure he has

to work with them now and try to calm the unease, but once shrub is gone, I do hope he lets justice run its course. Many of these people need to be in jail.. and if it was any of us little people, we'd be locked away forever... unless Obama wants to forgive all crimes and neglect our laws.

[bridgit]

5. Agreed. I don't need to see people swinging from yardarms, but someone has to be held accountable...

No Doubt!!

[WCGreen]

3. Oh bridgit, once again you make a whole lot of sense...

We can only go forward if we put the past behind us...

WE all know the urge for vindication is a strong emotion to deal with. That is why Obama is THE ONE. He can suppress the urge in order to do what he was elected to do, govern the country in a fair and just manner...

[bridgit]

6. WCGreen! So good to see you. Step into my office if you would please...

:hi: :hi: :hi: :hug:

[WCGreen]

7. I sure wish I could...

[bridgit]

8. Love & Peace to you & yours, that's what I say, WC...

:loveya:

[WCGreen]

9. Back atcha....

Love and Peace is always a good thing...

Especially when you get to be my age...

Why it's almost as good as sex...

[Larkspur]

10. Obama will set the example that leaders like Bush can break the law with impunity

Obama's "calm" handling of Lieberman, Bush etc is also a strategy to get the Dems who supported Bush's war crimes to get off the legal hook. Obama's "forgiving" policy is really just a smokescreen to help Dems who aided and abetted Bush's unConstitutional policies.

[bridgit]

13. Someone does need to be held accountable as I posted above...

What is the point in having laws unless they are adhered to? If Obama's intent is to offer cover to Dems that conducted themselves as you suggest; isn't he offering up his legal mind as a defense lawyer in defense of defenseless positions. To what extent would he have to believe in his client's innocence to be believable in that task? Would not Obama then be guilty of aiding & abetting Bush's unconstitutional policies to the extent that he is believable?

I am but a humble theater designer & lighting technician, so DU legal folk will need to chime in but the key seems knowledge. When one doesn't need to be at the scene of a crime to aid & abet, some will need prove foreknowledge of the criminal enterprise and having done something to insure it's success (bush has been a failure for 'we the people' so so much for Dems aiding & abetting the success of his policies); so I do I wonder if the greater crimes aren't they of bush himself, his handlers, his no-bid war profiteering cronies, and the republican fear & propaganda machine that sustained them.

But I do hear you: namby-pamby just won't cut it

[kennetha]

11. Personally, I just wish people would stop treating Obama like a Christlike Figure

The guy is a politician -- nothing more, nothing less. I do not believe he is any more pure, more moral, more virtuous than any other politician. He happens to have an agenda that I agree with and I believe he has the smarts and the opportunity to enact much of that agenda.

But other than that, I don't see him as an exemplar to be adored, worshipped, emulated, or anything else.

[FrenchieCat]

14. I think the fact that he selected Hillary Clinton as his SOS makes me think

that he is not just a politician. For that reason, I do believe that he is more virtuous than other politicians.....as many hold grudges or just don't want to be bothered by those who weren't loyal.

The beauty about America is that you don't have to adore, worship or emulate him if you choose not to. However, that's you...and this OP wasn't really about you....but how someone else channeled the positivity that the have found in Barack Obama as a role model.

Personally, I hope that many youths emulate him, in particular young Black youth....as we would be better off as a nation for it.

[kennetha]

19. I think appointing Clinton is the act of a consummate politician

[karynnj]

27. I agree there

It may be a supremely political action - and totally in his self interest.

[karynnj]

26. The ironic thing is that the Clintons are, other than Bush, the clearest

example of politicians who would not have made a gesture like this. (Their actions against Kerry and Richardson were small minded and vindictive.)

I don't see the SoS decision to be primarily one of forgiveness - he is likely acting in his (and the country's)self interest. I suspect that with the SoS position, Obama is accomplishing three things - he is putting leashes on the Clintons, he is reaching out to people still hurt that HRC lost, and he is gaining the star power they have. This aligns their self interest to his success - they now have a vested interest in him succeeding. HRC in a junior role in the Senate could well have been like Kennedy to Carter. There is no other Democrat who likely would have been that kind of threat. If she "goes rogue", she will be out. Only if Obama is seen as wrong will it hurt him at all.

[bridgit]

15. Yes, he's a politician some factors more than that imo hopefully nothing less

[elkston]

17. As long as you feel the exact same way about Hillary, I'll let you off the hook.

:)

[kennetha]

18. I do indeed feel the exact same way about Hillary.

[Beacool]

20. I agree with you.

I see a gifted politician who rose from the South Side Chicago political machinery, the most corrupt in the nation, where the dead voted regularly. He's a shrewd politician, intelligent, charismatic and a great speaker. He packaged and marketed himself very well and he has Axelrod to thank for that. Despite his abilities, I fail to see the reason for the blind worship of so many, the unquestioning adoration. We elected a politician to the presidency, he's not infallible like the Pope. His feet should be held to the fire, just like it was done with the other 43 presidents who came before him.

[karynnj]

25. I'll agree with you on adored and worshipped

and vehemently disagree on "emulate" - as long as it is limited to positive qualities only. The OP describes some qualities that he/she sees in Obama and described how he/she was personally influenced. That a leader CAN be a role model is a good thing - and there are likely many people, especially young people, who can be very positively influenced by the values that Obama has shown.

As to more pure, more moral, more virtuous - those are words that everyone assigns to their side - though I can't get my brain to understand the people who thought Bush any of those those things - yet they exist. But, from a given set of values, not all politicians are equal on these measures. At this point, we have very few examples for Obama where the "right" thing to do differed from the politically expedient one. (Kerry/Feingold might have been one, if he agreed with the logic then - rather than 7 months later when he came out with a similar plan.) He ran clean, positive campaigns against both Clinton and McCain, but to do otherwise wouldn't work. But there are politicians, who clearly have working consciences - and others who are far more flexible. (Jimmy Carter vs Bill Clinton) That example also shows that while those qualities are essential to being a good person - they may not be as correlated to how successful a president one is.

[Whisp]

12. beautiful

I'm still working on it, honestly I am.
It is kinda wierd tho how Obama has influenced my personal life in small ways. or maybe big ones.

what would Obama do?

well, I'm still not really up to snuff but at least considering. ;)

[bridgit]

16. I hear you. I'm no little tea pot short & stout, this is my handle this is my spout...

I'm a little stinker of that there is sometimes no doubt!! ;)

[AtomicKitten]

21. It seems light-years away from his inauguration.

I think people are on edge and anxious, and agree Obama is a prime example of cool, calm and collected. And that makes me more anxious for him to get his hands on the steering wheel. I'd gladly trade in Christmas and New Years to get to 1-20-09 in a hurry.

[bridgit]

22. Geawd you got that right. I can't wait for this bush duuph to be run out of DC...

Can I open my uncle's presents before we cancel xmas? :thumbsup:

[AtomicKitten]

23. you betcha! assuming your uncle is cool with it ;)

[we can do it]

24. I Like It! But I've Got PMS Today So Better Be Careful

Tomorrow's another day...

[bridgit]

28. Oh I hear you, tomorrow's another day...

:hug:

[Usrename]

29. I dunno...

... anybody who does something like that to cast iron is really begging for it. The way I was raised, that would be a capital offense.

He prolly wouldn't live through it...

:hide:

[bridgit]

30. Word! Don't be perpetrat'in on my cast iron cookware!!