Eight years ago, when Barack Obama was elected president, I heard a clip on the radio. a caller to the Rush Limbaugh show asking for his reaction. “I hope he fails,” were his words. Those words stung me, and stuck with me. Is it possible for a president to succeed and yet, the country be worse off? More important, can a president fail, and the country still be better off? In the end, I was left agreeing with senator Al Franken and forced myself to dismiss this as the rant of one person.
Now, the 2016 election is behind us. My history of comments and Tweets would show that my preferred candidate didn’t win. But as I reflect back to that 8 year old quote, I want to move on, and I want to hope for healing. I want to hope that somehow we are better off in 4 years. That there are more jobs, better jobs, for those that want them. That people of every demographic are able to say that no matter how they felt about who won the election, progress was made, the US is a safer place, that people are respected, and that we worry about the future just a bit less that we did before.
I know that readers expect posts about finance, the economy, taxes, etc. Trying to avoid politics is harder than it should be. Our finances are inextricably linked to what those in our government are doing. I hope, for all our sake, they act wisely.
I like what Tom Hanks said: “I hope the president-elect does such a great job that I vote for his re-election in four years.”
Thanks for the note, Ben. That’s a great quote, and I’ll agree with it, 100%.
I for one think that Obama did a good job as president and certainly better than old GW who went before him. I am always astounded when people rant about how horrible he did. One thing I always really appreciated about him is that he seemed to always have a plan and he always seemed to want to talk about the plan. This was also something I was pretty mad about in our last election. No one ever seemed to talk about what the plan was. That really bugs me. I just don’t understand what else we would want to talk about?
I am much more optimistic about Trump than most. I think he is capable of doing an amazing job. I would not be surprised if there are some initial pain and suffering due to hard shifts in direction. However, overall I think he knows how to run large organizations and I think he knows how to get things done despite the hurdles of complicated red tape. Both these abilities will be huge assets to our Country.
Thanks for the Post!!
I appreciate the comment. Today, I am writing about the first details of the new proposed tax code. I’m sure it will change multiple times before it even goes to a vote, but it’s good to understand what’s in the works.