Our Pragmatic President

Earlier tonight President Obama held his second prime-time news conference. He took questions from 13 different reporters from a wide variety of news outlets, including Univision, Fox News, and Stars and Stripes (the military’s newspaper), among others. After his speech, the pundits pounced: “He looked tentative.” “He looked tired.” “He was angry when our own Ed Henry (I was watching CNN) asked why it took him so long to express outrage at the AIG bonuses.”

Well, fortunately they replayed that clip. He didn’t seem angry to me. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here, “I don’t like to talk about something before I know what I’m talking about.” He didn’t raise his voice or furrow his brow or anything that might suggest that he was angry. He said, simply, and calmly, “I don’t like to talk about something before I know what I’m talking about.” (Or, something like that.)

What I saw was a president in command of the issues and thinking pragmatically. He said, “If we don’t deal with energy, health care, and education, we won’t have an economy that’s growing – at all.” He is absolutely right. So the White House is counting on 2.6% growth (in the near future) and the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) is expecting 2.2% growth in the near term. These four tenths of a percent matter hugely to the budget deficit we will be facing in years to come, but they aren’t THAT far away from each other.

This president looked into the camera and said, “We’re going to make mistakes. And, when we discover them, we’ll fix them.” “What a relief!” I say. “How refreshing!” I say. After eight long years of a president who couldn’t own up to any mistake, I find it terribly/wonderfully refreshing to hear a president say, “We’re going to make mistakes, and as soon as we spot them, we’re going to fix them.” How adult. How responsible. How accountable to the American voters is that?

What I saw tonight was a president who knew the issues, who demonstrated that he has thought about them very carefully, and who was willing to be open to another person or persons having a better idea than his. That’s leadership in my book. He said, “If Republicans or anyone else has a better idea how to fix the economy, I want to hear it.” Amen.

It’s time for us to come together as Americans. It’s time for us all to put our petty politics aside and work for the regeneration of our economy. I am not for a minute suggesting that we shouldn’t question President Obama’s or Treasury Secretary Geithner’s prescriptions for the economy. Rather, I’m suggesting that if we have better ideas then it is our duty to share them. In the meanwhile, we should support what they are trying to do. As Mr. Obama said tonight regarding the question about charitable donations: “A bus driver who makes $50,000, or $40,000 a year gets to deduct 28% of his charitable donations, but I (who make FAR more than that) get to deduct 39% of my charitable donations. That doesn’t seem fair.” You are right, Mr. President, it isn’t fair. And, it’s time for this to change!

I make far less than President Obama’s hypothetical bus driver and still contribute to charities. I don’t do it for the tax deduction, as I’m sure he doesn’t either. It’s nice, but it’s an after thought, a gimme, if you will.

Let’s back our president. He ain’t perfect, but he’s pragmatic, and that’s a far cry better than the last eight years!

Namaste.