Post Obamania – let’s get real
November 9, 2008 | 5:10 pmNow that the hype of the election has died down, we are getting to see the “real” Obama. We can start realizing what kind of leader he will be. The one significant thing I take away from his victory speech (other than how powerful and understated it was), is when he said that we haven’t actually achieved anything yet, all that’s happened so far is that we’ve been given a CHANCE to start.
Obama strikes me as so very steady, “no drama Obama” as they call him, everything he does he planned and thought about, and he consulted smart level-headed people about the topic first. This, I feel is his “unique selling point” as we say in Marketing, and it’s in sharp contrast from everything we’ve seen until now. Everything, lately, has been about being “reactive”. McCain picked his VP reactively, after Hillary Clinton’s loss, thinking he could get the female vote. George W invaded Iraq reactively after believing false reports, and mainly as a reaction to having been attacked on 9/11. The bailout was a “reactive” measure due to the need of the public to see something done.
I think we need to remember that governing is not done as a reaction to possible opinion polls or to what the evermore invading media thinks about the current situation. Politics and government decisions must be done by experts, people with knowledge and experience, people who understand the world we live in today (it’s changed a lot in the past few years). Most events do not need an IMMEDIATE REACTION, there is time to discuss and consult amongst experts, to have a global perspective and to take informed decisions. And for me, Obama represents a person who can do all that. Where he lacks the actual field experience, he has the global perspective of an “outsider”, all the while surrounding himself with the experts in each field.
What I see Obama doing in these few days is dialing down the entertainment aspect of politics, removing the sensationalism. We joke, here in Canada, that our politics are boring compared to the USA’s. The truth is, politics is about steadfastness, and each branch of it should be left to the experts. Obama shows us this, BUT, at the same time, promises to keep transparency in his government. He’s started http://www.change.gov, where we can all stay informed of what is going on, and we can even express our opinion and apply for a job. So he’s being transparent AND he listens. But that’s it. He doesn’t promise that he will somehow react to the questions and requests, he promises to take everything under advisement and then takes an informed decision.
The past few months were about hope for change. Now we get real and watch what politics and government are really about, what they were designed to be when the words “a government of the people, for the people and by the people” were uttered.
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