Carolyn Jack
Editor and CEO, Geniocity.comA project of The Genius Group LLC
Creative Nerve
Brats vs. Obama
I’ve about had it with a large part of the American public.
Recent news stories have reported that U.S. President Barack Obama’s approval ratings have dropped considerably. Apparently, growing numbers of citizens are unhappy that the economy isn’t all better yet and have decided that the country is moving in the wrong direction.
Could we please have a survey that determines how many of us think these particular citizens are actually petulant two-year-olds?
They must think Obama is a wizard who has only to wave his wand (Reparo!) to put the banks and the real-estate market and all the lost jobs back in place, good as new, instead of a regular human being who’s having to undo at least eight years’ worth of avarice and criminal irresponsibility on the part of financial institutions, as well as all the hideous mess of the environment, the energy crisis, health insurance, decayed infrastructure and, lest we forget, a two-front war.
They want it fixed right now, and because it can’t be fixed right now, they’re cranky and bored and have let their flea-like focus hop elsewhere, looking for the instant gratification they’ve come to expect from their electronic gadgets, credit cards and 6,000 available stores.
A lot of people in this country have gotten used to easy fixes. They have no patience for anything that requires them to think or labor or deny themselves. They’re used to having someone stick the bottle in their mouths or hand them a new toy the moment they start wailing. They have no self-discipline and, frankly, no sense.
They’re the ones who are going to endanger the effort to bring about the serious, creative changes this nation desperately needs. Creative change takes time. You can’t give it five minutes and then throw up your hands when nothing’s happened yet. It’s not magic – it’s hard work, some of the very hardest, and it has to be done properly and fully or it won’t hold up, the same way a building that’s rushed into being with a poor design and cheap materials will end up collapsing.
Obama and his administration are trying to do that work. They won’t do it perfectly – no one could. But they will be able to do it much more effectively if the nation’s legions of oversized toddlers grow up for once, stop demanding immediate results and help the rest of us think through the problems we face.
Besides, even in worlds where wizards are possible, we’ve seen that magic can’t reverse what indulgence, greed and impatience have spoiled.
August 19th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Carolyn, you are absolutely correct when you say “Creative change takes time. You can’t give it five minutes and then throw up your hands when nothing’s happened yet. It’s not magic – it’s hard work, some of the very hardest, and it has to be done properly and fully or it won’t hold up.”
Of course, it’s quite ironic that the President, who is supposed to be the wellspring of this creative change, outsources his health care reform legislation to the Democrat controlled Congress, who proceed to fashion virtually overnight a ponderous, bureaucracy laden, Rube Goldberg monstrosity of the bill, and try desperately to rush it to a vote with minimum vetting and little, if any, time to figure out what it all means.
You should be there instead of Linda Douglas.
Then again, your view on thoughtful methodical change might not go over very well.