What Are We Missing?

I remember Obama's ascension. The demise of the Republican party was imminent. Sarah Palin was an ill fit for a misfit group who had orchestrated us into chaos. We watched the stock market in free fall, the financial market disintegrating. We were hurt and hurting and we had a defined villain. And there was a hero come to our rescue.

But a funny thing happened on the way to our brave new world. The Republican party did not go quietly into the night. From a position of political weakness and uncertainty they formulated a plan based not on reworking their vision, but merely on stopping the Democratic vision from becoming reality. And Obama and the Democrats were ill prepared to beat back the attack. Their strength seemed to sap day by day, as they found themselves in a dog fight. And they didn't know how to battle like this.

As the Republicans found the holes to exploit, the filibuster and later the manufactured debt ceiling crisis, they made Obama and the Democrats look so unsure. The Democrats lost control of the dialogue. And dialogue was what we had expected, more than anything else to be what Obama would be able to control. He was so bright and so right, and yet there was something critical missing.

It has always appeared that he was one step behind. Always on the defensive. Never able to convert hope into something real. He has been such a disappointment as a politician. Unable to beat off the bully and unwilling to even try.

Why? It is getting to the point where many have even stopped asking the question, and when that happens it is a serious problem. When we stop caring about the reason, when we stop distinguishing the good guys from the bad, when we throw up our hands in disgust and merely conclude we have had enough, then there is an administration in distress.

If we are missing something, now is the time to reveal it. Show us in broad and bold strokes that you are greater than what we have seen and what we have come to expect. Demonstrate that November, 2008 was not a mirage and that what we invested our spirit on and our energy in that remarkable day was not a waste. We want to see Barack Obama before it is too late for us and for you.