Mr/Senator/President Obama's Truth

I seem to be in the minority of Americans when writing that I have yet to muster much excitement over President Obama's announcement Wednesday that his thoughts had finally evolved into an unprecedented, full-fledged presidential endorsement of same-sex marriage.

I have seen numerous clips from the ABC interview with Robin Roberts and, as best I could tell, the President seemed sincere when describing both the process he used to arrive at the decision as well as his fulsome support.

But when compared to the gushing hyperbole of the infotainment talking-head celebrities that followed the statement, my personal reaction was clearly left wanting. Blitzer, Matthews, Sawyer and Williams fell all over themselves exalting the President's courage in making "The Decision" amid metaphoric shouts of "Hallelujah!"

My empty reaction left me wondering, despite my great love of politics, if I had simply become too cynical or jaded when it comes to politicians.  Regardless, there remains a nagging sense that the events of this past week may have been more about politics than presidential evolution.

The week that began with an apparent gaffe by the Vice President admitting he was "absolutely supportive" of same-sex marriage eventually ended up making the White House look as if it was scrambling for a unified message; before Mr. Biden's interview was complete, the White House machinery was fast at work backing away from his remarks only to be followed in short order by yet another oddly-timed statement by Secretary of Education Duncan publicly pledging his support.

Before Wednesday's landmark interview, the White House had settled on the position that President Obama's opinion was in flux ~ that it was "evolving." But, in light of what would surely be seen as a defeat for the White House if the looming North Carolina Constitutional Amendment ballot initiative banning both same-sex marriages AND civil-unions were to be passed on Tuesday, it also seemed reasonable to posit that the collective "gaffes" and subsequent machinations might very well have resulted more from political orchestration than mere coincidence might have allowed.

Mr/Senator/President Obama's official paper trail on the subject of same-sex marriage is rife with well-documented changes-of-heart:

1996 ~  while running for a State Senate seat in a liberal suburb of Chicago, Mr. Obama filled out a questionnaire stating, "I favor same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages."

1998 ~  when asked about the subject again during his second run for the seat, Senator Obama backtracked a bit when he replied, "he'd have to look into it."

2004 ~ just as state Senator Obama was hoping to make the leap to national prominence with a run for the United States Senate, the candidate essentially re-affirmed his opposition to gay marriages by abandoning the word "marriage" while "embrac(ing) civil unions and full rights for gays and lesbians."

2010 ~ President Obama lobbied successfully for the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." To be certain, no one in official Washington believes absent successfully striking down DADT that the President would have ever come to support same-sex marriage; it was "a meaningful building block to get to a meaningful discussion about marriage."

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I just had an "Ah-Ha!" moment; something has finally registered with me.

It's amazing what writing does for my mind; throwing down words sometimes allows me to eventually ferret out my true feelings and untangle lingering confusion; the little "light bulb" above my head has now stopped flickering.

I DO believe the earnestness of Mr. Obama, the man's, statement on the matter of same-sex marriage.

I also can't help but feel that he, the Senator and the President truly felt this way all along.

It leads me to suspect that once the mantle of high office is achieved, political expediency as well as a primal drive for survival takes hold of all politicians.  Democrats, Republicans and Independents surely understand that politics is not a game for the timid; it seems to demand a small Faustian-like bargain of at least a part of one's true self in order to continue "playing the game" successfully ~ a story not unfamiliar to the lives of many Americans.

I could personally not care less if Mr/Senator/President Obama or Mr/Governor Romney have waffled over time; authentic growth and change is an essential component of our lives.  But it can also not be denied that a legacy of political "waffling" lends itself to more confusion and division among the electorate especially when subjectively reported by the media.

Sadly, I honestly don't believe Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Smith" would survive in the Washington of today; perhaps it was never realistic. But for whatever it's worth, I do wish we had a system in place that would allow decent men and women who serve as our representatives to merely speak the truth as they see fit without fear of the constraints of political maneuvering, party arm-twisting or blatant obfuscation. 

This is not about a solitary political wedge issue for me; naive or not, all of us should demand nothing less from our representatives.

I am satisfied that Mr. Obama, the man, finally had the strength of conviction to speak his truth this past Wednesday … and, for once, a President agreed.

I believe that alone warrants a little smile!

Senator Obama meet President Obama

I am a political junkie.

I truly enjoy the biennial cycle of primaries culminating in the November elections. With cable twenty-four hour news cycles, and nearly 800 channels from which to choose, I am seldom at a loss to find a panel of biased pointy-headed politicos discussing the latest polls while trying to somehow convince the television public how all of it relates to an event that is still months away.

It is stupid and a colossal waste of time. But I am resolutely unmoved.

When I was a kid, I only knew the damned political ads and conventions interfered with many of my favorite programs; politics were nothing but a meddlesome inconvenience not to mention boring.

But, with 795 fewer channels from which to choose as well as parents who held dominion over the television "console," I eventually was left with no choice but to watch many a party convention as well  the frenzied circus that was election night coverage.

Hey, it was better than a book. 

Only coming to understand our Constitution and the established process for elections later while in high school, I did at least manage to grasp the big picture while watching the tedious, program-interrupting programs:

Someone wins. Someone loses.

While that basic tenet hasn't changed, it does seem our politics has changed dramatically from when I was a child. Despite my adult obsession with all things political, I am increasingly exasperated by the growing ugly influence of political strategists, polls, money bundlers, PACS, as well as infotainment personalities passing themselves off as "journalists" presuming to educate us "simple folk"as to how we should think and vote.

As I watched a beautifully produced political video today featuring a statesmanly former President Clinton extolling the success of President Obama in making the tough call to terminate Osama bin Laden, instead of feeling a patriotic sense of pride in that accomplishment of one year ago, I found myself disappointed and frustrated.

To be frank, like so many other political ads, this video just seemed inappropriate to me.

None of us will ever appreciate the true nature of the burdens that rest on the shoulders of any person who ascends to the office of the President; sending young women and men into harms way, to put their lives on the line in the duty of our country surely cannot be cavalierly carried out by any man. 

Love George Bush or loathe him, no one but he will ever truly know what it was like to sit in that chair behind the Resolute desk within the Oval Office following the events of our nation's day of horror in 2001.

And to be President Obama, sitting in the Situation Room, surrounded by his Cabinet Secretaries and the heads of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all waiting for him to single-handedly make the decision to selectively assassinate another human being, even an Osama bin Laden, must surely have been extremely difficult on at least some level.

No one of us will ever truly understand.

And, every Presidency experiences highs and lows; one takes historic credit for the good and, unfortunately, must also suffer the hardships of the bad that comes on his watch.

President Obama will forever be rightfully credited for ridding the world of bin Laden; at least, he and a select few brave Navy Seals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYykD6_OHO0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Simply put, as regards the ad, what I personally found disappointing was the ultimate carry-away message, "What would Romney have done?" The clear implication, supported by a couple of random campaign quotes made previously by Romney, that he would not have supported the decision to take out bin Laden, to-wit:

"Mitt Romney criticized (candidate) Barack Obama for vowing to strike Al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan if necessary." Reuters August 7, 2007

"It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person." Associated Press April 26

This line of reasoning, while convenient, is also intentionally misleading, disingenuous not to mention hypocritical.  It also plays on an assumption of our collective ignorance or stupidity ~ take your pick.

No one ~ not candidates Clinton, Bush, Obama, or a Romney ~ can ever be held inviolately accountable for every word ~ quoted in context or not ~ made during the course of campaigns or even while in office.

Life is always in flux:

President Bush famously made the ultimate decision to exert Executive Privilege by making interim recess appointments which immediately set opponents declaring it an abuse of the powers of the Executive Branch; then-candidate Obama roundly rejected the use of such tactics.

Four years later, President Obama has now famously made the ultimate decision to exert his Executive Privilege by making similar recess appointments and pushing through facets of reform stalemated by a stubborn Congress.  Don't be shocked but his opponents on The Hill are now loudly decrying this abuse of his Executive privilege.

This is the reality of the Presidency; in this case,

Four years ago, Candidate Obama knew nothing about nor could he begin to understand the man who would eventually be President Obama; they are two vastly different people ~ out of necessity and as a matter of reality.

So it is that after watching this political video, I was truly disappointed President Obama allowed his personal stature as well as that of his office to be diminished by approving such derivative garbage.

I have great faith in our system but am growing increasingly tired, as I write ad nauseum, of the grossly contentious and fractious posturing of our political parties, as promulgated by their handlers.

Even Ariana Huffington, an ardent liberal supporter of President Obama, expressed her contempt for the ad when she wrote "any man ~ even Jimmy Carter ~ would have made the same decision!"

You can bet the inconvenienced and bored kid of my youth, if granted the vision of foresight, could have even told you this brand of politics as practiced by all parties doesn't elevate anyone; it diminishes each of us and our country in turn.