Posts Tagged ‘obama’

Oh-My-Bama!

Life is very interesting…

It’s interesting how people in general live blinkered lives only to remove these blinkers when involved in an emergent situation. Yesterday I listened to a radio host spit fiery words about President Obama and how he had failed miserably in his capacity as president.

You see, according to this host President Obama had made so many promises to the American people and had fallen short. I kind of let out a small eek and had to suppress my disbelief at how insular and narrow-minded many people seem to be.

My question to these so-called “real American people” is, how much have you accomplished in the last three hundred and sixty five days? Running the biggest government in the world efficiently and trying to appease over three hundred million people at the same time is no small feat.

In my view, it’s time that all inhabitants of America take a close look at what is happening around the world and not just what’s outside their front door. It’s easy to pick and complain about our own situation but compared to the majority of the world we still have it good.

Count your blessings and be patient.

Oh-Bama

The honeymoon is well and truly over. Eleven months into Obama’s presidency it seems as if the American people may have lost faith in their Messiah. His approval rating has dropped below 50% and shows little signs of improving. So what’s the most powerful and influential man on the planet supposed to do?
I have a little anecdote that might help Mr. President turn things around or at the very least put some perspective on the whole matter at hand.
In 1980 when I was about to start secondary school in the UK, or high school to my American friends, I was dead set on going to Fairfield Grammar. It was close to my house and all my primary school friends were going there. To my utter disdain, my Mum decided that Cotham Grammar, a school that was located further away and where I would know absolutely no one would be a better choice. You see, she knew that Cotham was a “better” school and more strict. I only cared that I would be in a place that was familiar to me. I couldn’t give a toss that this school might put me on a better educational path.
I cried and begged and sulked and stamped my feet but she would not budge on the matter. I thought that she was cruel and heartless. A few months after starting at Cotham she came up to me one day and admitted that she empathized with my trauma and had wrestled with making the decision with her head and not her heart.
This stuck with me and made me realize that sometimes you have to overrule your heart based on what you believe will make a better future.
In my view President Obama has made several decisions solely with his “head” early in his presidency and I don’t fault him for that. I just believe that in making those decisions he might take the time out to really explain to the American people that we all have to sacrifice and make tough choices. These might not seem at all appealing now but will be the building blocks for a stable future.
If he can make Americans feel like my Mum made me feel once she opened up and explained her thoughts, then he will be well on the way to boosting confidence in his ability to lead and in his decision-making processes.

Jackass

Kanye West is a jackass. So says the President of the United States and so say we all! That, my friends is the reason why “jackass” is etablog’s Word of the Week. It defies logic that one person can cause such silly controversy for a slightly less than earth-shattering event.

If you haven’t heard, read or seen the faux pas, then you might have been living under a rock for the past day or so. And you can consider yourself a very lucky person. As for Mr. West, he rudely interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards show to declare that Beyonce’s music video should have won.

Now in this time of economic woes and continued unsettling news coming out of places like Afghanistan, you could forgive “Hollywood” for wanting to have a day of narcissistic celebration. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, but when the US President has to take the time to answer some wannabe journalist’s question about “Kanye-gate”, you start to wonder.

Perhaps Kanye should be banned or suspended at the very least from attending these events. I believe that this is his second outburst in such a situation. But that would be a silly idea, now wouldn’t it? Why on earth would you bother to watch these shows, without all the controversy? You could even be convinced that this might be one of those stupid publicity stunts if only Kanye West wasn’t at the center of it all.