The State of My Resolve

 

Someone asked me yesterday where my post about the President’s State of the Union address was.  Of course I watched every second of it.  I had decided not to write about it at all.  Sometimes, it is best to leave the Debbie Downer essays to others who have far more practice.

However – that “someone” I mentioned above was the Reagan-loving ideologue whose last name I have carried for the past 34 years.  He seemed to be itching for another round of our traditional Matalin-Carville impersonations.  It was our way of life, even before he became my ex-husband waaaaaay back in 1985.

One thing my ex is NOT is a racist.  It was his bright idea to walk his blue-eyed-blond self down the aisle with me back in 1978. That was a time when white men marrying black women was still very much an oddity in America.  His conservatism is purely on the fiscal level, but what he doesn’t seem to understand is that these days, ALL conservatives run the risk of being suspected racists.  And when he sent me his characteristically terse assessment of the SOTU – all bad, of course – my immediate reaction was just a tad irrational.

I have since recovered and remembered the debate ground rules we established all those decades ago.  These debates had been the source of entertainment for us, especially during Presidential election cycles.  We argued endlessly about Jimmy Carter during his term as President.  But then he’d turn around and buy me a “From Peanuts to President” watch featuring Carter’s toothy grin.

Anyway, here is an excerpt of the email he sent today:

I look forward to your blog on the State of the Union address.  I guess Obama figures "if you can't be good...be consistent" as he repeated themes from previous SOTU speeches. 
What a piece of work, and what a waste!

• He could have had a bipartisan health care bill if he would have told Nancy not to lock out Republicans.
• He could have had a bipartisan finance reform bill if he would have told Messrs.'. Dodd and Frank to let Republican ideas be included.
• He could have us on our way to some energy independence and some job creation if he would have allowed the XL Pipeline.
• He could have us on our way to some energy independence and some job creation if he would lift the restrictions on drilling both on shore and off.
• Instead he invests in Solyndra.

And the list goes on.  He came to office with so many hopes and so much positive energy from so many people and he just devolved into a Chicago Pol, promoting at any cost an ideology.  What a shame and what a penalty all of us will pay. 
Hopefully a brighter day begins in less than one year from now.

Usually, such talk causes me to spring into action, countering with arguments to each point, defending my ideals, my points of view, and above all, my President.  But this time, all I felt was battle fatigue. 

This exercise we put ourselves through every four years feels more and more like the four years I spent in high school.  We’d go to pep rallies and spout off these inane rhyming cheers declaring the other school’s players and fans our mortal enemies:  Our team is red hot!  Their team is doodely-squat!  Aside from the coach and one or two of the returning varsity players, none of us had ever laid eyes on these people.  Yet we were adamant that they were worthless clowns who should be playing with the Frosh.  They had no redeeming value whatsoever, simply because they stood between us and what we had to have: THE WIN.

The truth is, I came away from that speech discouraged.  It wasn’t that President Obama did a poor job of delivering the speech.  He was fantastic!  He looked more confident than I have ever seen him.  Upbeat.  Powerful.  Presidential.  He was on a high, and I was right there with him – as long as I didn’t listen too hard to the words.  Because the words were just that:  words.  He lost me at “…America is back. Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn't know what they're talking about.”

I WANT to believe he is going to do what he said he was going to do.  Nobody is prouder of his gutsy decisiveness in going after that bearded bastard in Pakistan who engineered the death and destruction of 9/11.  That took nerves of steel and balls of pure titanium. 

But every time he challenged Congress to send him a bill to sign, that little voice named Cynic started whispering in my ear.  “Yeah, right.”  Because in my mind, there is no chance in hell that Congress will ever do that.  No matter how many times the President inches closer to the center on the issues held sacrosanct by the conservatives in Congress, it will never be enough, because they have one objective and ONLY one.  “No more years!”

Just like the members of Congress who have made it their mission to unseat Obama, my ex already knows the reasons for the list he sent me today.  And just like the members of Congress, he refuses to consider any aspect of those reasons as valid.  He’d rather be upset because he can’t buy incandescent light bulbs anymore.  That’s one of the two mistakes he will concede was made by George “W” Bush.  The other was the GM bailout.

My guy has made a helluva lot more mistakes than two and so did Bush.  I am still an avid admirer of the man who is Obama.  The husband.  The father.  The regular guy who can sing an Al Green soul tune with genuine soul.  The charisma and charm.  But remember that question the Repubs just love to pose?  “How’s that hope and change working for ya?”

It’s not.