Will Obama Change His Mind Often?

With just under 2 weeks until Barack Obama is sworn in as president you can kind of feel the excitement in the air flowing from Washington. Every news anchor now lets their tongue slide across the words, “President-elect Obama” as if they’ve been practicing it their whole lives. I can’t hear them say it and not think of the joy in the streets on election night in Chicago.

Reflecting on that, I saw something I wrote exactly one year ago. It made me wonder if this hope for our next president will be true of Barack Obama.

In an age where news is so emergent, where technology develops so fast, and where so much more is known today than was known yesterday… I want a president who changes their mind. I want a president who doesn’t “pre-decide” on every single issue and go on their voting record into the future, but can be convinced by the evidence presented. I want a president who responds to the present situation. I want a president who cuts the baby in half to come up with the best solution. I want a president who has the best interest of the nation in mind and not the best interest of himself or his party.

All this to reiterate: The winner of the 2008 election will be the candidate who captivates the American people’s attention with ideas, uses the internet the best, and can prove that they can/will lead the American people.

Flip-flopper? So 2004.

Not to sound like Rush Limbaugh, but “I predicted that” the weakness of John Kerry would be the strength of the candidate who won the election. One candidate said ‘I will lead the way I always have” and lost in a landslide to the one who said, “it’s a new day and we need to make decisions in the present.”

I just wonder if it’s going to be as easy to do that now that he’ll be our president?

My other reflection is a fear. I am fearful that too many, especially the young, have put their hope in Obama. He is just a man. He will fail. He cannot live up to everyone’s lofty expectations. The change they voted for won’t be seen much on January 21st. And I hope that disappointment in Obama doesn’t lead to bitterness for our government.