Keeping it Motivational

First - a few dropped thoughts on the President's first month. Despite the massive challenges faced, fam maintains steely composure and ease over the past month - a quality that makes him rather strong and solid as Commander-in-Chief. The constant communication and focus on transparency (from simple efforts like a user-friendly White House website and Recovery.gov to frequent face time
before the press) is putting him in a position of public strength. Sifting through the dust of politics and ideology, overall: he's done rather well in a month. Pushing through what really amounts to a nearly trillion dollar appropriation "package" in a manner of - what?? - weeks (although, fam can argue he'd been making deals since Nov. 5th), is real skill. Particularly as he continues pressing for bipartisan cooperation amid Republican pettiness.

GOP Congressional fumbling and intransigence is a topic set aside for another piece. But, clearly, these cats either didn't get the memo or they shredded it somewhere between inbox and the recycle bin. Again: the key to this affair is to stop talking party talking points, stop placating the base. Ease up on the right-speak, turn up some pragmatism. Spitting out a hundred rebutting Bobby Jindals stepping like Sponge Bob, enter the stage, won't cut it. "Baby"-talking, slang-babbling Michael Steele (come on, fam: you are the Chair of a major political party, not the lead rapper) promising "hip hop" overtures is sliced ham.

So, in this first month, we dug the president's unofficial State of the Union ... state of the union before Congress. We dug the way he football coached it, dug the ass slap on the field, dug the Black Patton with Mighty G.I. Joe's stone grill in the background, Pelosi happily camping along for the ride. That was classic. And we got it - it was the speech some of us wanted on Jan. 20th. But, we got that one, too - we just desperately needed a bit of President Life Coach. Something motivational. Word on the streets was that Barack was a bit too sobering. In the barbershop, clippers buzzing while brothers chatter on the state of things: "Sun sun is a bit too serious. I mean - damn, dude. We know it's f - " Yes, it is messed up. And, yes, we know you stepped through the White House soon after Texas Ranger bounced, opening closets and peering under rugs, gave that pensive glare we voted for and - so the kids wouldn't hear - whispered: "Damn." Yes, it momentarily depressed you - we saw it in every Cabinet announcement. Felt it at every press conference. We feel you. And, so, Barack "kept it hundred," as they say. He didn't mince it, didn't shake it - he simply spoke it for what it was and is.

However, while understanding the necessity of an honest and frank 'keep it real' approach, the President would be wise to turn the somber tone down a notch. Many of us want - no ... need the T.D. Jakes' moment. We need a tear-jerking "Glory" moment. We need a "Great Debaters," need Morgan Freeman at the end of "Deep Impact." The American public is past the problem identification phase: and we appreciate his keeping us updated on how bad it really is. But, depression is just as much a mental dynamic as it is economic. Hence, more emphasis must be placed on problem resolution and helping people
visualize the light at the end of the tunnel. We're not saying he should sugarcoat the issue or bamboozle expectations - we're simply saying that he can also use his bully pulpit to keep it slightly upbeat and motivational.

He did that Tuesday night. Gov. Jindal's response said as much. The look of pain and complete stupefaction on the Louisiana Governor's face told many post-Obama speech minutes of nauseating tightness in the groin. If we were Jindal, we would have trashed the script, loosened the tie, stepped out slow and went for heart, stepped to the mic, did a Q-Tip "Breathe" ... "stop" ... and concede how really good that speech was. "And, you know, I just can't compete and I won't try, national family. 'Resistance is futile.' My rebuttal is that - well ... there is no rebuttal. There is only hope for the future, friends. The same hope that pulled Louisiana out of Katrina is the same hope we need now. We are all on the same flooded rooftop, fam. We are all residents of the Lower Ninth Ward. Let's agree to disagree, but let's pull it together and press forward." . He should've did a 2012 rather than, as one friend put it, a "Nick @ Nite."

Comments

[blaqntelligence]

He should have talked to you first.
As an American Democratic Obama supporter, I'm glad he didn't.