Presidents often have the distinction of being damned if they do and damned if they don't, with Obama being a particularly robust target for such contradictions. Republicans, in the mental wilderness at present, have taken to mocking the lack of change when Obama appears to not be the radical they attempted to say he was, and yet, when he makes radical policy changes, he is evil incarnate and ready to usher us into a new order of socialism and general doom. That he has pretty much only lowered taxes and tinkered with a few issues (like stem cells) is quite surprising given the tax day tea protests that among other things were implying that he has in three months destroyed the American way of life.
Then again, there is a group of conservatives who have largely reset their historical frame of reference to election day, with all existing national conditions laid upon Obama.
People--voters and such--say they want change, but often become a bit apprehensive when actual change is presented to them. Hence the concept of talking to your enemies, whether Cuba, Venezuela or Iran, causes concern all around, and yet the same concerned faces will go on and on about how politicians generally do nothing.
This week past we had Obama as change agent, not only shaking hands with the quirky and harmless Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but changing the laws on how Cubans in the United States and Cuba can interact with each other. These outreaches cause a certain amount of paranoia on the right, and the type of paranoia that does not exist if one were trying to broker change between, say, Irish factions and England. (North Korean or Iranian killers being somewhat spookier than Irish ones).
Obama will not get credit for actually living up to his campaign promises any more than he will get credit when he seeks compromise to appeal to those with a more conservative outlook. Which is why,when in his shoes, you should do what you do, and as much as you can, critics dismissed. (We saw him straddling, yet making real change, in his handling of the torture issue ; he released information showing the torture tactics used by the Bush administration, while simultaneously granting a type of immunity to those who just were acting under what they thought we legal orders).
A friend asked if Obama was perhaps doing too much and I agreed that he was sticking his hand in every pot. But that's called making the most of your opportunity because you don't want to leave the job with people saying, "Wow, an empty suit and nothing accomplished." Which is what they will say if nothing actually changes.
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Speaking of empty accusations, we get some pleasant news from Iraq, which lends credence to the fact that former president Bush will likely have his reputation somewhat bolstered by a stable Iraq. It was a bold gamble to try to remake the Middle East, and the majority of the people, focused on the limited goal of weapons of mass destruction, missed the true vision. Or willfully ignored it. Bush was an optimist and hoped that by removing a dictator, such radical change would trigger a string of similar successes in other areas. It was a noble idea woefully executed. His defense department at the civilian level was a cabal of imbeciles, squandering his vision and making it less clear.
With Iraq, it has been a more difficult path than necessary because of the blunders, and only now are we starting to see the fruit, which we hope will accrue to Bush's reputation. Here, we find Iraqis returning to vice, and leisure, and relaxing. Clubs and bars are opening, curfews are ignored , and prostitution is flourishing. The prostitution we could do without , but to the extent it is a sign of a less coercive society, such is good. One does not want prowling religious authorities beating or bombing people into submission, instead using free speech to make their case.
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This was interesting, and falls into the category of "sometimes stuff happens no matter what you think you know". Ron Lieber, a personal finance reporter for the N.Y. Times (and the Wall Street Journal before that) discovered that his financial planner has been accused of fraud and stealing client funds. The reporter checked his records and found that he was not out any money, but the point he makes is that given intent, anyone can succeed at a criminal act.
I think we can derive a larger principal from this. There are a whole lot of things that happen in our lives, and the world. We can't control them all and sometimes the results of our actions, however well planned and intended, just don't pan out. Stuff happens. And happens. Life is complex with many people acting against each other to different purpose. But you don't stop living or hunker down in isolation because stuff happens. You don't stop doing, or attempting to change your world.
Hence this ode to Obama and Bush, men with at least one good idea.
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