There have been few moments when I have raced to my laptop, because I felt I had to write about something. It may seem strange that Tuesday nights seemingly run of the mill State of the Union was one of them.
Five January’s ago this country was buzzing with hope, and filled to the brim with President Barack Obama’s charm, charisma, and relentless optimism for the future of this great nation.
But then this great nation turned a shade of grey.
President Obama focused all of his time and energy on “Obamacare,” possibly to get Hillary Clinton on board with his campaign – a political necessity at the time. As it turned out, Universal Health Care wasn’t as popular as he dreamed. It happened, but after a begrudging four years of bipartisan, bureaucratic, nonsense. The auto-bailout, the movement toward green energy, and the fall of unemployment were all undermined by economic stagnation and a disappointing Presidency from a man the world expected to be something more than a man.
The expired icing on the cake of perpetual disappointment and failure was Congress. Never was there such a dramatic plummet from “Yes We Can” to constant government shutdowns as there was in Obama’s first term. For the longest time, this country was despondent and disenchanted. For a few minutes there, Greece was starting to look like an ideal vacation get-a-way.
Then the economy wasn’t so dismal anymore. Congress seemed to be passing bills and, insanely enough, talking to each other. I woke up one morning and realized that the US was moving forward, but the President wasn’t there. He was stuck as a memory of his potential in 2008. He became the man that was re-elected because Mormon-Moderate-Mitt, was tripping over his own two feet at every turn
President Obama wasn’t the man who won because he inspired the masses; President Obama was the man who won because there were no better options.
But Tuesday night, he was the best option. He was the face of a country moving toward the future. There is rarely an outcry of inspiration after the state of the Union, but this time, Obama was a phoenix rising from the ashes of every word.
“It should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank account, that drives our democracy,” Obama said, as goose bumps spread all over America’s proverbial spine.
Speaking of spines, for the first time in years, he had one. Forget the man who seemed to have taken a heavy sedative before his first debate with Romney, this was a Springsteen show.
“Let’s make this a year of action,” Obama said, after adding that he will work with or without Congress.
He was calling the shots, and it was a sight to see. He may not have proposed all the necessary solutions, but I didn’t care. Obama had the feminist in me cheering along with his rousing promises of income equality and the right to contraception – even though I full well know the executive branch is very limited in those respects.
It was a speech that made America seem hopeful again. It was a speech that brought tears to the eyes of many a brave man when Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg was honored. It was clever, witty and most of all, classically charismatic.
Obama’s countenance possessed that rare Gatsby-esque quality that “understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself.”
Should a politician be all looks and talk? Of course not. However, the powers of the branches of government are inherently limited. That’s why it’s so important to have compelling speakers and policy-makers, because they inspire the people to make changes that the government is either too convoluted or corrupt to see through.
Technically, the State of the Union was flawed with too many anecdotes for the purpose of making viewers well-up and not enough clear cut solutions. But, at the end of the day, the speech served its purpose. Only time will show if he can paint this splendorous picture of the future. But, for tonight, it was enough to believe that he could.
