What was Barack Obama thinking when he was driving from the White House to the Capitol to be sworn in? Was he worried about his speech? Was he thinking about the burdens he was about to inherit as he chatted amiably with the man from whom he would inherit them?
And how about when he drove back, waving to the adoring crowds who were so inspired by him. Was he thinking about his friend Ted Kennedy who collapsed during the luncheon at the Capitol and had to be rushed to the hospital? Was he wondering how he, the now President Obama, or anyone else, could possibly live up to the expectations his fellow citizens had for him?
Success in public life is often a matter of exceeding expectations. The latest CBS News/New York Times poll shows that 79% of Americans are optimistic about the next four years with Obama as President. How can anyone exceed those expectations?
Imagine what it must be like for a new President to be taking office at a time like this, when so much is going wrong and yet so many people think that he can make it right. He knows how tough it will be to solve the problems we face. The question is, do we?
In the days leading up to his inauguration, you could tell the President-Elect was trying to manage our expectations. In every speech, he talked about the hard road ahead of us. He talked about the sacrifices he was going to ask of every American. And then he really hammered it home in his Inaugural Address when he talked about the dawning of a new era of responsibility. It was as if he knew that in the long run we will prevail in the challenges before us but in the short run he is going to disappoint an awful lot of people. That knowledge, in itself, must be one heck of a burden.
©Copyright 2009 by Keith Ellis; All Rights Reserved
