A Sincere
Appeal to Reason
Hadiza Wada, DBA ... December 04, 2010
President Obama and his team must not change course just to
satisfy the opposition. Most
especially the President. That will amount to abandoning the principle that form
the basis for his election into office.
He must remember always that he was seen as a God send back in 2008 when
the nation appears to have reached the peak of its patience with the policies of
the Republican party which at that time was in control of the White House. He was not only endorsed by the votes
of people across all nooks and corners of the nation, the circumstances that led
to his opposition’s unpopularity remain the priorities of the Republican Party
to date.
The Republican party may have won a majority in the
House, but it will be a momentous mistake if it is viewed solely as an outcome
of the popularity of what the Republicans stand for. The Republican campaign
leading to the November elections if we recall chiefly concentrated on arousing
negative sentiments on the one hand and attacking the President’s and his
party’s record. The Obama
Administration which stretched only two years was overshadowed by trying to save
the nation from its economic woes.
The unemployment figures so much quoted during the elections campaign was an
inherited baggage, so also the massive amount of funds used to save the banks
and the “too big to fail” institutions from complete collapse. These in essence were where the money
went. The billions a day war machine
was the other consumer that was not often mentioned then.
Many respected analysts not led by greed but reality of what the
nation’s democratic ideals really mean from the days of the founding fathers to
date, tend to lean towards a different interpretation of the Republican win. They believe that there are many
variables at play to make a lone interpretation of the win to mean that
reasonable programs embarked upon by
the democrats should be halted or even allowed to be reversed. They all point to the underlying
problem for the nation being the Republican Party’s apparent obsession with
satisfying corporate interests as against the interests of the majority and
other key national needs, as one of the problems that got us into financial
crisis in the first place.
We must also remember that the middle class and lower class
Americans who translate into roughly eighty percent of the population today, do
not influence any of the structures that determine the outcome of the nation’s elections, not
even close. Neither do they control
the press who are the gatekeepers of our daily news, determining the priorities
of what gets attention and subsequently what gets aired, onlined or pressed. The majority therefore do not set the
agendas of what get discussed in wall streeet, main street or even at the
corridors of power in Washington.
The result of that is; the priorities and frustrations of the majority rarely make it to
Washington.
We call on President Obama to once again remember
that his individual presidential campaign theme, one that sets him apart from
the other primaries candidates of
the Democratic
Party then was “change.”
He specifically mentioned several times then, and also during his full
presidential campaign against the Republican Party that his vision was to change
the order of business in Washington in order to make it work more effectively in
addressing the true needs of the people across the nation.
People who have been frustrated by that aspect of
politics which seems to be moving increasingly away from serving the people,
felt they have finally got someone that understood their frustration. To that
80% of the population, their immediate frustrations include keeping their jobs
as manufacturing jobs went away; or their homes as their mortages were
threatened, or else getting food on the table was more of an immediate problem more
than the hyped policies of selling fear and feeding those big corporate defense
contractor’s pockets. Even some parents of the men and women in uniform were
frustated with sending their kids across the sea, if alternative ways could be
found that will bring the troops home.
We call to mind a lone mother, Cindy Sheehan, who kept following White House entourage and once camped outside the former President’s ranch in Crawford Texas, after losing her lone son abroad in war.
Finally, President Obama must also never forget the tears on the
faces of millions across the nation as his win was announced, which literally
brought to life the realization that the United States is truly a unique nation
that could set aside its prejudices and wranglings in times of need, in order to
endorse the right vision for the nation.
Neither should he forget the hopes expressed in the faces and voices of millions
and even billions more across the ocean in the hopes of a saner and more
sensitive leadership of such a great leading nation of the world.
The President must remember at all times that the right
intention must be accompanied by the right action. And that no matter how difficult a
task, he must remain committed to his words and vision upon which he campaigned, for true success is guaranteed only
for a just and right cause that takes into account the needs of each and every
individual,
and not a compromise that serves overwhelmingly the few powerful and
rich minority.
(c) The Optimist Voice. All rights reserved
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