For those who missed President Obama's speech yesterday, you can see it here. The White House posted it on YouTube.
I like Obama. He has done something about health care in the US which I think is progressive [no, not "progressive" meaning "I'm a Marxist but use this as a code word," "progressive" meaning "making progress".] At least he was able to do something where so many others haven't. No President comes into office without difficult situations to deal with, be he really did get handed a lot at once that wasn't his fault.
The world's economy was haywire, Iran is building an A bomb, Israel was blasting Gaza and America was, and is, fighting two wars, one in each of Afghanistan and Iraq, or as I view it, one war on two fronts. He had "enemy combatant ants" in Guantanamo, which he had promised to release or try, but realized, once in office, that that was a lot easier said than done.
All-in-all, a lot to deal with.
He's made good choices about his Cabinet positions and has managed things fairly well so far. He hasn't demonstrated the deft political skills of Bill Clinton, but on the other hand, he's not going to be the indecisive, ineffectual president Jimmy Carter was.
Without commenting on the substance of his speech last night, which dealt mainly with the crisis surrounding the BP oil spill, what struck me was his tone and demeanour.
Obama usually exudes confidence; often almost to the point of seeming smug. But last night, there was something different. He seemed nervous.
That of itself was unnerving to me. How dangerous is this oil spill going to be and when will it be stopped? Obviously no one has that answer yet, but when Obama's scared, I'm not happy.
I just hope it was all just because Michelle told him he has to stop smoking..or else...!
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