The President of the United States had two wake-up calls in his first year in office. The first was when he said “I don’t know all the facts…but…the Cambridge police acted stupidly.” The second was last night with Scott Brown’s unthinkable win in Massachusetts, which also happened to be the last evening of Mr. Obama’s first year in office.
Both cases, “Cambridgegate” and Scott Brown’s win, were the only times during Mr. Obama’s ascendancy that events played Mr. Obama and not the other way around.
Barack Obama's ninth grade class in Hawaii. The President is fourth from the right in the bottom row.
The privileged elite classes are always shocked when the “lesser” folks fight back, or their actions throw a monkey wrench in the top dogs’ grand designs. Make no mistake, Mr. Obama is from the elite. From the day he entered Punahou School in Hawaii, Mr. Obama’s future path was virtually set in stone, if he was willing to work for it. And he was
The idea that Mr. Obama rose from nothing to defy the odds as a “black” man has always been a misnomer. Barack Obama was destined for the gilded-path of the upper crust from his earliest days. There is actually nothing wrong with that trajectory, but perhaps it wouldn’t have sold as well at the polls. Obama’s race is what made him saleable to the American people; it was not a detriment. If Obama were white, he would have had his clocked cleaned by John McCain. Not because of some strange PC voting block that chose the “black” guy, but because underneath it all Obama is an elite, know-it-all, nerd.
Where does that leave Mr. O now? The President has two choices. Follow the path of an actual up-from-nothing President, Bill Clinton, who showed some humility in reaching across the aisle for real after stinging losses in 1994, or dig in his heels in the belief that Scott Brown’s win had nothing to do with him.
It is the belief that the American people, the “bitter clingers”, will buy anything the elite puts forward that has led to this trouble in the first place. Yes, you may know better than others that overuse of McDonald’s products will lead to a large frame, however, that isn’t your business when it comes to the general populace. People are free to make their own choices. The President needs to learn that in regard to his entire agenda.
The mistake that elites like the President make is that they misread the American spirit. Poor people of all stripes are against punitive taxes targeted at specific industries. It is un-American to not just the entrepreneur from Indiana, but to the poor hotel worker in the South Bronx. The American people can see a day when universal health care leads to government’s soft authority over the rest of our lifestyles, and we don’t like it.
There is hope for Mr. Obama. I saw it with my own eyes. It come in the form of an off-handed comment to reporters. The President referred to the rapper Kanye West as a “jack-ass” in regard to his antics at the MTV Music Awards last year. In that moment Mr. Obama had 93% of the country behind him.
Legislatively, if he can find a few small Kanye “jack-ass” pieces of legislation to pass, the President would be well served.. The President needs an actual populist agenda, not the one manufactured by his staff and friendly corners of the media. At the end of the day, health care reform and cap and trade would have benefited those tied to the liberal agenda, not America at large. $60 billion to unions anyone? However, as with all elites, they tend to not like having the cabana-boy at the tennis club teach them about a more efficient backhand. It just isn’t proper.
The 85% of non-elites (this author included) in this country are the collective cabana-boy. We serve the drinks, cook the food, clean the courts, and fix the nets that keep this club, America, running. Perhaps we know a thing or two more than you think about what is good for this country Mr. President.
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John Romano is the publisher and editor of Yes, But However!, a musician, a former political correspondent for BBC Radio London, and a serial web entrepreneur. Follow him on twitter: twitter.com/yesbuthowever or John Romano on Google+John Romano article archive.
