Mr. President:
You have inherited the worst recession in recent memory, perhaps the worst since the great depression, two wars, Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, yet another war between the Israelis and Hamas, out of control government spending, a losing struggle in the war on drugs, and a failing health care system. Soon, your detractors will have to admit that you are not a Muslim terrorist, a Marxist, or the Anti Christ, even though there will be some who won't be convinced regardless of what may happen. Your supporters will have a hard time convincing anyone that you're the messiah, that you actually have the power to solve the intractable problems besetting this nation, or that your policies are all that much different from those of the previous administration.
Imagine the letdown when both extremes face up to the fact that you are a human being, a politician of far more than average ability in that field, but a politician nonetheless. Of course, the most extreme will still cry that you're a devil or an angel, but those cries will mostly fall on deaf ears.
You do have an enormous amount of political capital, both domestic and foreign. How far that will take you in convincing the rest of us to do what must be done to begin to solve the problems we face is yet to be determined.
At least we do now have a leader who does not suborn torture, who has some credibility with our allies and enemies alike, and who may be able to inspire people to work together. We have a leader who may, just by example, inspire black youth to higher aspirations and take some credibility from the voices telling them that their problems are caused by white prejudice. We have a leader who speaks English well.
Maybe your most fervent supporters will be not the black community, but the teachers of English.
And the losers will be the writers of political humor. They will miss your predecessor.
Good luck to you. Both you and the nation will need it.
You have inherited the worst recession in recent memory, perhaps the worst since the great depression, two wars, Islamic fundamentalism in the Middle East, yet another war between the Israelis and Hamas, out of control government spending, a losing struggle in the war on drugs, and a failing health care system. Soon, your detractors will have to admit that you are not a Muslim terrorist, a Marxist, or the Anti Christ, even though there will be some who won't be convinced regardless of what may happen. Your supporters will have a hard time convincing anyone that you're the messiah, that you actually have the power to solve the intractable problems besetting this nation, or that your policies are all that much different from those of the previous administration.
Imagine the letdown when both extremes face up to the fact that you are a human being, a politician of far more than average ability in that field, but a politician nonetheless. Of course, the most extreme will still cry that you're a devil or an angel, but those cries will mostly fall on deaf ears.
You do have an enormous amount of political capital, both domestic and foreign. How far that will take you in convincing the rest of us to do what must be done to begin to solve the problems we face is yet to be determined.
At least we do now have a leader who does not suborn torture, who has some credibility with our allies and enemies alike, and who may be able to inspire people to work together. We have a leader who may, just by example, inspire black youth to higher aspirations and take some credibility from the voices telling them that their problems are caused by white prejudice. We have a leader who speaks English well.
Maybe your most fervent supporters will be not the black community, but the teachers of English.
And the losers will be the writers of political humor. They will miss your predecessor.
Good luck to you. Both you and the nation will need it.
