"In Order to For a More Perfect Union" The Obama Creed

Note: for those who oppose politics in social media, please ignore this particular blog post. I do not mean to offend. I mean to commend.

 I am always nice to folks that are respectful, so Michelle Obama's words "When they go low we go high" speak to my moral latitude and longitude.

It is with this respect for others I submit these thoughts--brief though they be about why President Obama is one of the finest men to hold the office of President of the United States, and, alongside some of the greatest of our leaders, the most consequential.

People can be very forgetful. Eight years ago we were bleeding out jobs by the thousands each month. The Dow dropped into the 600's (total points), and the US was teetering on the brink of financial collapse. Unemployment was bouncing around 9-10%. These are facts. No president since FDR faced a crisis like this coming into office. 

People forget two wars were being fought. No president since Nixon has inherited a war when they took the oath of office. 

But NO PRESIDENT in the history of this nation ever faced BOTH cataclysmic issues at the same time when they were inaugurated. President Obama gets that dubious distinction uniquely.

The economy has rebounded. You know the numbers: 4.9% unemployment, incomes up in all sectors of the economy, the Dow is pushing 20,000 points. That alone is remarkable. The wars have gradually tapered off so that we are in a drone battle with ISIS as we help the nations involved choke the life out of this cancer that plagues the Middle East. Finally, the leader of the 9.11 attacks does not take a breath on this Earth.

But to so many Americans all that was not enough. Millions of Americans claimed that they have not been heard or helped. They feel 'forgotten.' Others are angry that they have had to pay a price for others. They feel this burden is too heavy--he/she is not my brother. Oddly enough, many claim Christian spiritual values to be at their core; until, they have to reach into their wallet and help 'form a more perfect union.' Obamacare is just too expensive, the cost of covering their employees is too high. Of course, having 20 million Americans uninsured is far more expensive. They ignore the Obama position that the President does not control Big Pharma or the medical insurance industry. They do not urge their congressman to improve the ACA, but rather to repeal it (but just keep the good parts). The 'good parts' are the parts that cost the most--those are the essence of the AFA/ Obamacare.

They claim it is the President's fault that their business is not growing enough (if at all), their jobs have been outsourced, automated, or become obsolete. I find that strange because it was not a Presidential decision that caused any of this (or could have prevented any of it.) The corporate greed, the 1% club, the obsession for increasing wealth for the powerful shareholders in Big Pharma, Big Oil, etc (just to pick a few of the many corporate giants who have made a killing in the last eight years). The very people whom they just voted into office have appointed nominees, sitting smugly waiting for cabinet appointments, those folks are your 'advocates' now.

We want more. A "more perfect union" does not mean "I have to sacrifice"--let this cup pass me by. It's someone else's problem. "I paid my taxes and what did I get for it?" they ask.

Answer. The greatest nation on earth. The leader of the free world. The oldest democracy on the planet. The richest, most educated, most technological, most inventive, most humane, most forward thinking government--that is what you have received. Are we perfect? No. Are we still racist? Yes. Are things better than they were eight short years ago? Unquestionably. Not for all, but for most. And the forgotten ones? Ask who forgot them. Companies that shipped lobs overseas, automated, or just went under because they could not compete. Will a new administration change the profit motive? The shareholders thirst? Turn Chinese products away? All questions that require time and attention paid by informed Americans.

To my way of thinking, the most divisive, un-American action by any government official came from the power of one Mitch McConnell, who claimed that it was his patriotic duty to make sure President Obama is not re-elected. Obama must be seen as a failure. He must fail to right the ship that was lost in the President Bush years. (Mind you, President Bush is not to be solely blamed for the downward spiral. There is enough blame to go around from both political parties.) To decry that the President must never have his administration pass anything of significance, to be completely "the party of obstruction," to block the appointment of a Supreme Court justice for the better part of a year would make the Framers of our Constitution turn in their graves.

So fear trumps hope in the eyes of far too many Americans. And then fear leads to irresponsible acts of hatred. A call to ban all Muslims from entering the USA. A fence to keep out all Mexicans who are "bad hombres." A deportation team to move 12 million people out of the USA. A chant to "Lock her up" and a call for a commission to investigate and prosecute Hillary Clinton for crimes of which not a single shred of evidence has seen the light of day. Fear brings conspiracy theories. Fear brings claims of 'fake news' or facts one cannot trust because as one Trump spokesperson implied "there are no facts anymore."

FDR, when facing the greatest crisis of the 20th Century, reminds us: "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." That is really the crux of the issue. And what else does fear do? It blinds us to the greatest issue of our time: Global Warming. The Paris Accords is the first step, as President Obama said, to saving the planet. But we can't see that because it's not in our backyard...yet.

I refuse to accept that I should support the "McConnell Mandate"--make sure Mr. Trump fails. No, we need President Trump to "bring jobs back". He needs to realize only some of those jobs will be sustainable. We also need those jobs to pay better wages, but we also better accept that the products made in the USA will cost more. People better not moan and complain about that. Perhaps Trump needs to live by his own words and make neckties in our country, buy steel from the USA Steel, and pay his own hotel employees better and (you may not know this) and offer them medical coverage, which he does NOT do in Las Vegas. Oh, the shareholders will not be happy when the labor costs rise.

As for acting like a grown up and not the narcissist bully that he inherently has demonstrated--that is too much to ask. Maybe the best we can hope for is a man who becomes more educated to the drama that our world faces.

So I am rooting for this administration to continue President Obama's work of making this a "More Perfect Union." And I hope that Americans begin to realize that "a more perfect union" was energized when young children today have never know an America that did not have a African American President of these United States of America. That alone may be his most remarkable achievement. Hope, my friends, hope.