Well, he did it! Today, Senator Barak Obama announced his formal candidacy for the President of the United States. I have said it before, and I will say it again… Senator Obama inspires me! Every time I hear him speak I get Goosebumps, because I know he is a great leader that is really going to do great things. The important thing to realize is, he is not out to do great things for himself, or his business acquaintances, or his close friends, or even for his family. Barak is truly out to do the right thing, or at least try to do the right thing, for our country and even more importantly, the world!Barak Obama is a man that truly inspires me to have hope and feel like we can all do the right thing! I was thinking, as I watched him stand on the steps today in the cold in Springfield Illinois, that this man reminds me of what a US President meant to me when I was young and growing up. Senator Obama reminds me of the types of people you think about as being president when you are a little kid. He is an authentic leader with a genuine cause, and when you watch him and hear him speak, you know it is true. If you don’t believe me, go to YouTube and watch any speech he has given in the past 4 years, you will see what I mean.
The true measure for me is what would make President Obama feel like a success when he was President? It wouldn’t be a library in Chicago, or tons of money from board seats, or even a great legacy in text books. No, you know as well as I do, Barak Obama would measure success by knowing he made a positive and lasting impact to our country and the world. Knowing he made peoples lives better. Knowing that families feel safe and can feed their kids. Knowing that the elderly were taken care of. Knowing that people retained the freedoms that make this country great. I know Barak will measure success by what a President should measure success from, and that is what makes him great!
I remember when I was young, in elementary school or middle school or even high school, learning about the President of the United States, and being in awe of who he was and what he stood for. I remember thinking about this powerful person that was out there taking care of us and someone that we all aspired to be like one day. People would say things like: ‘If you study, maybe you can become President one day.’ I remember my parents watching the State of the Union on television, on that big color Zenith in our family room. We would all listen intently, as this great leader of our country would talk about where we were going as people of the world.
Don’t get me wrong, the times were not always that great. We knew there were wars around the world. There were millions of starving people in Africa. Heck, there were homeless people living down the block from our nice suburban home in Evanston, Illinois. Yes, there were hard times and painful times, the country had to go through them all together.
What I remember was we all seemed to be in this together. We all seemed to look at the President and trust that, no matter if we agreed with him 100%, he was looking out for us and would ultimately do what was right. Of course there were opposing parties, and people got nasty once in awhile, but it always was because people were trying to do what was right, or at least what they thought was right. Sure, people disagreed, but they at least disagreed about how to make the country a great place for everyone!
I was young, and probably blinded to some of the real scandals going on at the time, but that didn’t seem to really make too much of a difference. Even as I grew up, and watched great leaders such as Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr, and Clinton take office, I felt like we all were together to make this country a better place to live.
The President to me is more than just someone that can veto bills, or select Supreme Court justices, or even take us to war. The President is someone that everyone in the world should look up to and trust that things are being done to make our lives, and the lives of people around us, better.
The President to me is someone that inspires action and brings people together. The President is someone that our youth, not just in the US, but across the world, should look up to. The President is someone that listens to everyone involved and comes to a well thought out decision. The President is someone that will admit they made a mistake, but constantly is improving themselves to become better, thus making the world better.
The President should make us think, and should not scare us into not thinking. The President should challenge the status quo, but also should listen to people who have been there before. The President should be respected enough across the world to have real influence in decisions, but also should be able to adjust that decision as others present new information.
The President should always want to learn, and should surround themselves with a very well rounded set of people that can help provide opposing viewpoints at all times. The President should be friendly and likeable, but with drive and the seriousness brought from the weight of the world.
The President should feel and empathize with the sacrifices made by people across the world, especially our military families at a time of war. The President should be the person that garners the respect of everyone in the room, not because of his or her education, money, or rich friends, but because they earned the respect.
I don’t know when that feeling I had as a kid went away, but I know it did go away. It was at some point in the past few years, and I really don’t think I am an isolated case. I do see the lost hope, I see the lack of respect, and worst of all, I see people giving up. Our country was not founded on the principals of fear based leadership. Our country was founded by the people. The President is there for the people! We need a leader that will inspire people to stop giving up. We need a leader that will regain that trust and hope across the world. We need a leader that will make children say ‘I want to be President one day!’
Senator Barak Obama is that leader!
We need Barak Obama more than ever in the White House, please help support him in anyway possible!
