Obama is the man for the job
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Ashley Schauer
Albemarle County
Published: September 20, 2008
Let’s hire Barack Obama.
As a physician responsible for hiring employees for my practice, I occasionally encounter someone who is so outstanding that I am grateful that he or she has chosen to apply for the job. That is the way I feel about Sen. Obama: Our nation is fortunate to have the opportunity to elect this remarkable man.
Why do I believe Sen. Obama will be a great president? First, he is intelligent enough to understand the nuances of our increasingly complex world. From the humblest of backgrounds, and without family connections, he rose to become president of his law school class at Harvard and later a professor at the University of Chicago.
Second, Sen. Obama displays a trait that is fundamental to good leadership: integrity. During his time in Chicago, he passed over lucrative career opportunities and instead chose to use his abilities to help the working poor of Chicago’s South Side.
More recently, when news broke that Gov. Sarah Palin’s teenage daughter was pregnant, Obama passed over the common temptation to use such an event for his own political gain. Instead, he reprimanded the media for reporting the story and stated that family members were “off limits.”
Finally, as anyone who has heard him speak knows, Sen. Obama has an extraordinary ability to inspire. Unlike those of most politicians, his words do not move us to anger or self-righteousness. Rather, he inspires us to what Abraham Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature.” Sen. Obama urges us to unite as a nation, sacrifice to meet challenges and care for the less fortunate.
The road we travel is not easy. Our country needs someone who, like successful presidents of the past, can lead us through difficult days and inspire us to a better future.
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Posted by ( Meru ) on September 21, 2008 at 6:55 pm
Interesting qualifications. President of his law school class? Law professor? Better angels? What really is interesting is your comment on integrity. It is unfortunate that doing the right thing - clearly the right thing in this case - warrants some sort of reward or admiration. It does not. It is what is expected of adults and should not be the cause for praise.
I think overtly admiring Obama - or anyone else for that matter - because he did not take a jab at Palin’s family situation is sending the wrong message. It is akin to rewarding a student for not cheating on an exam, providing money from state coffers to drivers who do not speed, or declare a man a good husband because he did not cheat on his wife.
It is such underserved admiration as described in this particular letter that has lowered expectations throughout our society. This type of admiration is like the little participation trophies we give our smallest children for simply participating on a sports team, regardless of the effort exerted or attitude displayed. The little kids of course love them but as they get older, they really mean nothing if they are not truly earned. That’s why we eventually stop giving out those little trinkets. Your admiration of Obama for doing the decent thing is like giving one of those little participation trophies to a professional athlete. It really is undeserved praise because Obama did nothing that we should not expect from eachother. Certainly, it is not enough to earn a vote for President is it?
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