At least with the Obama regime, people who expect better of their government and say so will not be termed disloyal and unpatriotic. And people who expect better of our business community and say so will not be termed communist and anti-free-enterprise. And people who are smart and work hard and attain good educations and establish impressive achievements will not be dismissed as elitist [David Newquist, "Better Prospects for the Economy," Northern Valley Beacon, 2008.11.27].
Newquist's mention of our expectations makes me think of one distinct strand of sour grapes coming from the nattering nabobs of Nobama negativism: the frequent warnings that Obama can't live up to his supporters' expectations.
It must be simply crushing for the bitter fringe of the radical right to see the destroyer of their party, Mr. Low Expectations himself, George W. Bush, replaced by a Democrat of whom we actually expect performance. As a teacher and coach, I've always thought it better to hold students to the highest expectations, to say, "Forget the easy stuff—let's go for something big!" The same high expectations are all the more appropriate for the leader of the free world.
When I say I expect great things of President Barack Hussein Obama, I'm not praising him. I'm setting goals, standards of achievement to which he must rise. I won't say to our President, "Oh, just do what you can, try not to bump into the nuclear button, and that'll be fine." America and the world deserve better, and we should keep the pressure on our President to aim high.
For the last eight years, we seem to have forgotten that the Presidency is a high jump, not a limbo contest. Fellow lefties, keep that bar high. Mr. Obama, let's see some vertical!
I did not vote for Obama, but as a liberal Republican, I am sincerely excited about how he is able to invigorate folks in our country who have previously been stagnant or felt left out. We're going to need a lot of that in the coming years as we work together to straighten our economic situation and world conflicts. My biggest fear is that when Obama asks us to step up and work harder to pull this country toward economic growth, some of his supporters will pull back rather than engage. It will take all of us to ride this storm.
ReplyDeleteLet's raise the bar for Barack Obama and keep it high. Let's put our faith in this man. Let's be optimists! Let's create a positive, self-fulfilling prophecy.
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