Notes From D.R. | Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

To paraphrase Steely Dan’s song “Kid Charlemagne,” does Barack Obama realize that he is a champion in our eyes?

The 44th President is facing the sort of pressure no President has faced since Ronald Reagan in 1981: an economy in collapse, a seemingly endless struggle against extremism, a middle class facing stagnant wages and slipping hopes.

People want him to be great. They need him to be great. This country, damaged by years of non-leadership, will absolutely collapse if he doesn’t live up to the hype.

Obama did not receive my vote, but he receives my support. While I’m disappointed that John McCain did not emerge victorious in last November’s election, I cannot wallow in the same bitterness that has consumed too many members of the online right over the past two months.

I don’t get the anti-Obama rhetorical fist-shaking in the conservative blogosphere. Let’s be honest: McCain would have, in all likelihood, sold conservatives out just as his Republican predecessor did. The only reason those of us who didn’t have schoolboy crushes on Sarah Palin voted for McCain was that we feared Obama would appoint super-liberal judges to the federal bench.

Obama will likely make such appointments. However, bad judicial appointments will hopefully be his only failing as President.

I don’t share Obama’s views, but I want him to lead. Is it too much to ask for effective, competent leadership in the White House? We haven’t had any since January 20, 1989. (Yes, the partisan right insists that Bush demonstrated true leadership, but those claims are as odd as Al Gore’s 1998 assertion that President Clinton will be regarded by history as one of the country’s best leaders. If Bush was such a great leader, then why didn’t the public seem to recognize his great leadership after 2004? And no, you can’t blame the mainstream media: they were just as critical of Bush when he was liked as they were when he was loathed.)

Among the fifteen (give or take a few) conservatives in Massachusetts, there is a general consensus that Obama is merely a younger, more charismatic version of Governor Deval Patrick, who also employed hope-and-change rhetoric and exploited anti-Republican sentiment to defeat Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey for the top seat in 2006. Patrick’s tenure hasn’t lived up to the hype (to say the least), and the Bay State right is convinced that Obama will deliver a Patrick-style performance as President.

For Obama’s sake, and for the sake of the country, I hope that’s not the case. The country can ill afford the sort of pseudo-leadership Patrick has brought to Massachusetts. Call me naïve if you want to, revoke my conservative credentials if you must, but I have faith that Obama has learned from his friend’s mistakes and will provide the country with leadership far superior to what Patrick has given the Bay State.

For whatever reason, I don’t have the desire to join the right’s grumble-thon about the inauguration. Does the coverage of this event prove that the mainstream media are in the tank for the Democrats? Sure enough. Are the celebrities involved in this celebration demonstrating their usual egomania? No doubt. However, despite the annoying aspects of the inauguration, conservatives should also get their hope on. Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, no?

Obama’s victory proves what conservatives have argued for years: that talent, merit and hard work will take you anywhere you want to go in this country. Obama may not share “conservative values” in one sense, but from another perspective, he is a living testament to “conservative values.”

It’s true that the press and the entertainers would never react with such joy if a Republican President were assuming office, especially a nonwhite Republican. However, it’s also true that the conservative media would celebrate until the break of dawn if a Republican, especially a Republican of color, were about to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. If Obama doesn’t lead as President, the left will be tearful. Should it really bother us if they’re currently cheerful?

Whether conservatives like it or not, Obama embodies the American dream. I certainly wish the American right currently had a figure who could galvanize Americans of all races, backgrounds, ages and political persuasions. Right now, the Democrats have such a person. Let’s give him his due and wish him the best.

Recently, an unusual theme has popped up in the comment sections of the major conservative blogs: “We’ll show Obama the same respect the left showed Bush!” This is a creepy calculation: because progressives demonstrated gutter ethics in their treatment of Bush, it’s supposed to be our duty as conservatives to do the same to Obama? I don’t think so. When he’s wrong, we should criticize him. When he’s right, we should shake his hand. Here’s hoping they’ll be many opportunities for handshakes in the future.