I've been itching to write something new for a while, but have held off because there is so much out there to write about. Truthfully, it seems a lot of my statuses and/or blogs seem to divide more than spawn productive dialogue, though the dialogue I do get out of them seems to be useful for the times of which they are written.
But today's blog, I think is something that both my conservative and liberal friends can get behind - or at least I hope they can. It's a mere observation on the type of leader our country needs right now. Let me preface, as I always seem to do, with the fact that I do like President Obama, and I like the things that he is attempting to do. But I also feel that he's not the leader I voted for in one large capacity - he's too afraid to tell it as it is.
What our country needs right now is a person (man or woman, black or white, or whomever else things they can get the job done) who can talk to the American people on their level, without dumbing it down, and who is also willing to take a political risk in what he says.
I feel as though President Obama is too dreamy in his speeches - he talks too much of what America should be. While there is a time and a place for this, he also is missing the most important part - we're not that America right now. We have got some major problems! We have a debt that just won't stop, wars in three different countries now, major natural disasters around every corner, a huge homeless problem, a jobless problem, the potential for a terrorist attack at any moment, and our President worries about his wording and how it will affect him at the polls.
Now, granted, this isn't just his problem - it's a growing problem with our presidents, and it gets worse every term. The president literally has a team of people telling him how a choice of just one word could affect his poll numbers. To me, this just seems as though this would affect the actual communication that President Obama is trying to have with the American public.
We need a leader who can step into office and get up to the podium and tell it how it is. "To my fellow Americans, we've got a problem. If we, and I mean all of us don't share in some form of sacrifice, our debt is going to grow way out of control. We have to not only cut from discretionary spending, but as a country, we have to cut from the defensive budget, and we have to cut from social security, and from medicare. All around, we have to to cut our spending. And, there is potential, that taxes might have to be raised. We have dug ourselves into a situation that we cannot easily get ourselves out of..."
I mean that right there is truth...that right there is honest. The president knows he has to cut social security, but he is afraid to say it. Our republican friends know they have to cut the defense budget, but they're afraid to say it because of fear that it will cost them numbers at the polls and therefore their job. But until we actually get not only a President who is willing to say such things, but also Congress is willing to say such things, I'm afraid we're never going to get anywhere.
Both parties are at fault here...both parties have unleashed out of control spending. I just wish that the people we elected would stop passing the blame. I mean, it's just downright ridiculous how much both sides blame the other for misfortunes of the past! We need a leader who can step forward and who can say enough is enough and get things done.
I know, I'm preaching to the choir. I just can't understand why it is so simple for us normal, every day Americans, to recognize the ridiculousness of our politicians and they cannot see it themselves. It truly makes me wonder if I should eventually get into politics and throw my thoughts into the ring.
The point of this blog is simply to say we need somebody who isn't afraid to stand against the people in his own party, the other party, and even the lobbyists and "politically correct" groups that got him or her there and say "enough is enough, this is what we're going to do."
What are your thoughts?
