Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Obama teaching us all something in his restraint



Time correspondent Joe Klein is right on the mark when he says Obama's first 100 days have been the most impressive of any president since the mighty F.D.R.

Too often politicians world-wide have been guilty of vote hunting and over-reacting in order to keep the masses happy. How wonderful is it then to see a President prepared to talk about patience and common sense.

"There's an impatience," Obama says, "that characterises Washington, that insists on instant gratification in the form of immediate results or higher poll numbers. When a crisis hits there is all too often a lurch from shock to trance, with everyone responding to the tempest of the moment until the furor has died down...instead of confronting major challenges that will shape our future in a sustained and focused way."

Klein says Obama's combination of candour and vision and his patient explanation of complex issues shows Obama at his best and signals a change from his predecessors and from the way society is at the moment - away from the kind of quick fix, sugar rush , attention deficit society that marks the postmodern age.

New rules for Wall Street so that in any one year of the economy 40% of US corporate profits don't come from lending as has previously happened and initiatives in education, energy and health care mean Obama is making his mark in a resilient manner.

There won't be a fix for today's problems by tomorrow morning. Everything has to be worked for, to be gained and then rewards will come, he seems to be telling us over and over again.

If only John Key's first hundred days were just as impressive....

1 comment:

Bentley Strange said...

Are you serious ??! The "mans" got to be the biggest epic fail in the job since, since, just about anyone. He can talk (when reading from the teleprompter), but he doesn't actually SAY anything. Vision ? Well, he can see, but he's still talking the same mush that got him elected, and he's leaving policy to Congress. And the corruption, has any member of his cabinet NOT been a lobbyist and scammed on their taxes ?