Citizen Confidence -- are Americans Having "Honeymoon Blues?"

In last week's post, I spoke a bit about the new umbrella called Positive Psychology and how it is drawing top level scientists and researchers to contribute a new frontier of how to focus on our wellness or happiness, instead of our illness -- (see post here).

One idea I'd like to explore further is how to track America's 'Well-Being' at any given time. We have methods to track how much we spend and how many jobs we have lost, but how does it affect us all emotionally? What is the status of our "Citizen Confidence?"

I admire the forward thinking of the Huff Po with the dedication of the Living section to the Inner Life, the Giving Life and the Balanced Life. How is our Inner Life, our enthusiasm and confidence affected with the frustrating and disheartening "Business as usual" on Capitol Hill?

More American's than ever are daily tuning into politics, after such a historic election turn out. We were inspired like never before. Yet, this string of stumbles in confirming Obama's cabinet with tax evasion issues, the impeachment of the Illinois Governor and a zero republican vote of support for the bailout bill is absolutely having an impact on our Well Being, thank you very much. This is not part of our happy ending story.

The presidential inauguration reminded me of a really fine wedding. The American people and the Obama family have had a love affair for a year during the campaign, got engaged with a big diamond and celebration at the election, and finally walked down the aisle in the biggest wedding our nation has ever seen. Everyone came to the celebration. I am talking all the relatives in this big blended family were there, and it was a blast. Moving into the White House has never been so exciting.

We all ran out under a flurry of white rice and dashed off in a shiny new car to celebrate our honeymoon together. As citizens, we're committed to get active in this marriage and do our part to wash a few toilets, clean a few dishes and remember to put the top back on the toothpaste, as all newly weds do. We're ready to confront the crumbling economy, tackle health care, go green and rebuild our standing around the globe.

I also imagine the selection of the new Cabinet members to be something like inheriting "in-laws" for the next few years, to share our dining room table. Naturally we are all on our best behavior and ready to welcome in the crowd. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton managed to get in without too much ado, and she lit the place on fire with her strong team building skills and has the State Dept. jumping for joy. She took the first seat and we were ready for more.

Now, we had a seat ready for Bill Richardson. Ooops. Nope. Can't put him in for Commerce Secretary. Too bad, he was perfect. How about this seat here for our Treasury Secretary? Well, Senator Geithner almost lost his seat with that "little tax problem". I guess we can forgive him, because we really do need him with the economy in shambles and all.

How about that seat for Health and Human Services Secretary? Uh oh. Senator Daschle had to leave the table entirely yesterday with his tax embarassment. Not that health care matters much I suppose. And also yesterday, another fine potential "in-law", Nancy Killefer, had to withdraw her candidacy to be the first chief performance officer, due to botched payroll taxes on her household help. That's three who had to leave the table and three that have had major tax issues. Some performance.

Please, can't the honeymoon last a little longer? I'm not ready for it to end. It took a lot after Bush for us to get our hopes up and get hitched in the first place. I am not sure this newlywed bliss is ready for the partisan beating, delays and the frustrations. We had our swoon, and now are we crashing?

The high after the inauguration to the recent string of either blatant dishonesty, or over scrutinized confirmations, disheartens us at a deep inner level that affects our confidence, our willingness to stay involved, and quite frankly leaves our collective hope on fragile ground. How does our emotional response stay buoyed? Clearly no one can get through a Senate approval unscathed. What average American could? But we want a team. Now. We want our dining room table filled with people we can believe in -- just like that guy we put at the head of the table.

What is the modern lifespan of societal hope? Jobs are tanking and the fear in our bellies is gnawing deeper and deeper every day. How long will American's continue to believe that "Yes we can" if at every turn Washington wags it's finger and says, "Oh, no you can't?" How does this dysfunctional family environment affect about ability to stay motivated and move forward?

Maybe the only way for our Citizen Confidence and societal well-being to remain intact is to set up another table. Keep the fancy dining room for traditional formal meals like Thanksgiving with all the hoopla to get there; but maybe we need a kitchen table nook with trusted uncles like Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and our buddy Warren Buffet to get down with a beer and a napkin style plan to get things done.

After all, everyone knows all the action in any house happens in the kitchen.

How is your Inner Life and Citizen Confidence doing right now? Are you in honeymoon bliss or blues? What do you think of our dining table of Cabinet members? How can we keep our active participation alive in the face of current pitfalls? I'd love to hear your comments.

Comments

[manyamile]

rumors of regrets and dissatisfaction are overblown in the media..
I am happy and ready for the challenges and work ahead.
Everyone I know feels the same way.
We support our collective main man and his main family!
this is called facing and embracing our committment!

quite a different feeling than 8 years ago, when ,soon after Bush took office. After that shotgun wedding i really felt screwed.
( not in a good way.)

[DianLB]

I don’t feel as though the “honeymoon” is over. Hopefully this is just the beginning. Less than 2 weeks after the inauguration and already the in-laws are baring their fangs. Obama has set a very high standard and I suspect that many of Washington’s finest senators and congressmen are on the offensive lest their closet door opens while the relatives are there.

Bush' document only produced the bones of the turkey. He certainly affected our emotional well-being. But that era is over and good-riddance.

I agree that more citizens than ever are keeping in close touch with the happenings in govenment. Finally a portion of the family is involved.

To find that Tom Daschle, one of the most up-standing of all at the table, is in-fact just like the others is terribly disappointing. This hasn’t given all of the family much hope that things will change. Sadly the Health and Human Services has lost out.

It will be a nail-biting period for quite some time. Can our hope last until the first “100 days” has been reached? We have to, without panicking. Our generation has never ever been through these gut-wrenching times. Other recessions passed but this one is monumental.

I agree, let’s get the trusted ones in the kitchen, holding hands around the table, bringing out the best they have to offer. We have to have hope, if we don’t what do we have . . . . .?

[Kari Henley - Huffpost Blogger]

Great comment! Love how you were able to keep the metaphor going!

[PlaceboStudman]

I must add, you forgot one major aspect of the whole wedding analogy. The Proposal. The day President Obama came into the spotlight and announced his intention to "wed" the people. Many, if not most of us were elated, exuberant, and overjoyed. So overjoyed, in fact, that our "honeymoon blues" were inevitable. We worked, we fought, we negotiated so hard against competing forces just to get to the wedding (inauguration), that we got lost in the process and completely forgot that after the wedding comes the marriage.

We are now in marriage mode, and realizing that the hard work to keep this relationship going has just begun, and already I see signs that we might be considering kicking out our spouse (President Obama) for not living up to the impossible expectations many people developed in their blind joy over the upcoming wedding.

But, now its time to unpack the wedding gifts that we dont want but people felt compelled to give us (the stimulus package), and get down to the business of being married and living as husband and wife

[Kari Henley - Huffpost Blogger]

Brilliant!
Love how you continued the metaphor. This is one of the wonderful elements online columns. I completely agree with you.
We are a fickle nation, aren't we? Our divorce rate is pretty high, and our tolerance level for imperfection remarkably low.

We need some more stories and role models of "successful" citizen-government marriages, and, we need to absolutely unpack the gifts, take a deep breath and remember the magic comes in those most unexpected moments.
Kari

[Jan Possidente]

In the end Iam hoping for a happy ending of this marriage and a few politicians we can look up to as Hereos not liars and cheats.

[Kari Henley - Huffpost Blogger]

Here here!
Let's hope our hopes are not dashed and an active partnership between citizens and government can be a long and healthy one

[Riekang]

As I've grown older, I'm amazed at how much patience I have these days. I'm in a holding pattern right now waiting to see how things play out. I just hope that those who don't see the big picture or the possibilities of what may/may not happen in the long term get so bitter as to place all the blame on one man when we should take most of the responsibility for the status of our situation. It took years for this to come to a head and those who thought that he could within days or weeks turn it around are being unrealistic.

[Kari Henley - Huffpost Blogger]

Hi there
Thanks for the comment.
Let's hope the status quo can maintain your sense of patience and "Big Picture" thinking! In our 24/7 world of instant gratification, this mess certainly is not going to be fixed soon, or by one man, I agree!
Kari