Heads of
state are aptly remembered for what they had accomplished while in office …
their legacy if you will. There are big
legacies and not-so-big legacies.
Clearly those Presidents who are memorialized on Mt. Rushmore
have left big legacies … winning important wars, freeing the slaves, establishing
for posterity firm democratic guidelines, ridding our nation of malignant structural
forces, curing economic malaise, setting high ethical and moral standards, etc.
According to the Associated Press, Obama wants his legacy from his second terms as President
to be the following:
- “an immigration law that
would deal firmly but compassionately with millions of illegal residents”;
- “an economic model that demands more money from the rich to shrink
the debt;”
- “a tax system that is fairer and simpler for families;”
- “a bigger emphasis on
education,”
- “more made-in-America energy,” and
- solving our “old problem of gun violence.”
If one
actually believes these pronouncements, our current White House occupant has
not carved out for himself the loftiest of goals. These stated objectives, to me, seem
short-term and opportunistic … ignoring many of the gigantic economic, social, cultural, infrastructure, and geo-political conundrums that we face as a nation. And,
truth be told, he has not, in the first half of his tenure, accomplished very much
even toward his previous picayune pronouncements … other than through his rhetoric
(which is all too often hollow and divisive).
So, seeing
that we have to live with this man for the next four years,
it sure would be nice if his upcoming inaugural address on Monday were to set
a higher standard for his next four year than what we are being shown in the quoted
Associated Press piece. And it would be even
nicer, were he to do so, I and the rest of the country would find ourselves
nodding our heads in belief and enthusiastic agreement.
