yustyoking

            There’s a much beloved American TV talk show called The McLaughlin Group. Political analysts, they are one noisy crowd! They’ve been doing it since Adam. A favorite line comes every week at the end, when the host turns to curmudgeonly Pat Buchanan and asks, “Predictions, Pat?” Buchanan is once again being asked to lay his reputation on the line and exhibit prescience. The joke, of course, is that Pat, archly conservative, always comes up with something outlandish for us all to laugh about.

            So, here goes. My prediction: Obama will win in 2012. He’ll run a brilliant campaign— that’s what he does best, after all, that’s his voodoo— and get the votes. A clear win, it won’t be a squeaker. But like Nixon in 1972 or George W. Bush in 2004, no one anywhere in the country will openly admit they voted for him! Obama will get elected by an overwhelming mass of incognito voters.

            Yes, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, July 14, 2011, that over half a million people in American made a contribution to Obama’s war chest (552,462 individual donors). That’s great! Now he only has 259½ million less enthusiastic people to convince.

            It’s very unusual, almost unprecedented, for a sitting president to approach a midterm campaign where his identity is still an issue. Usually, after three years, we feel we know who our leader is. With Obama, he won’t let on and it’s impossible to know! Liberal? A fiscal conservative? A free-thinker or a staunch Democrat or a Harvard preppie? Who is this guy? Our perceptions change from day to day. When he kept touting “Change,” I’m not sure this is what he meant! A shape-shifter.

            He covers specific topics in individual speeches. He tackles even more in press conferences and State of the Union addresses. His answers are well-versed, succinct and cogent. Yet, there is no FDR-like guiding philosophy, no Eleanor Roosevelt or Bill Clinton mantle. There’s no one defining moment that makes us exclaim, “Yes! That’s Barack Obama!” The true-believers worship him as the Second Coming, but those of us outside the temple are having a hard time discerning the path ahead.

            Mr. President, for the good of the country, define yourself! Give us an 8-step program or 10 principles or, at least, 3 priorities or something that tells us where you intend to take the country in the next four years. Please.

            And don’t give us the mouthwash of uncompleted tasks and unfulfilled promises! We know all that, already! O’ captain, my captain, we know where we’ve been. Where are we headed?

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