Reflections on our President-Elect ...by Gerald Frendt

 It is 4:30 in the morning and I can’t sleep…I need to clear my brain by writing…a friend recently forwarded an e-mail that is circulating the Internet, titled “It Could Be A Miracle”.  I have copied it to the end of these thoughts, so that I represent its sentiments accurately.  I agree with most but not all of it.  I will not deal with the parts that I disagree with – the election is over.

I agree wholeheartedly with the writer’s sentiments when he states that as a nation we demonstrated our willingness to "judge a man, not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character".  Very few nations in the history of the world would have been willing to a make a similar choice, and none have.

In 1955, my best friends were the Kelly twins.  Their dad was a Chrysler management employee.  One day he drove home a two-tone Dodge – pink and black.  We, nine year olds, thought it was really cool.  We must have been a part of small minority – I have never seen another pink and black car.  In retrospect, it was really ugly.  Since then, I’ve owned and driven many black cars, but never a pink one.   Now for the metaphor – I’m not concerned about President-elect Obama’s blackness – I just don’t like his pinkness.

I have to admit to an uneasiness with his name.  It is now politically acceptable to say his whole name – Barrack Hussein Obama.  I think the source of my uneasiness is that I don’t believe that I know this man – that he was not thoroughly vetted during the campaign.  A different standard was applied to him.  When Senator McCain selected Governor Palin as his running mate, the press flocked to Wasilla , Alaska , and scoured her past.  The local librarian was interviewed to determine whether then PTA President Palen had pressured her in the selection of books … they uncovered “Troopergate”, they looked for marital indiscretions (didn’t report finding any), her political adversaries, when she was Mayor, were questioned; they found that her daughter’s fiance was sometimes foulmouthed and often a bully on the hockey ice.  But this is not about Governor Palin – whether she is a “political flash-in-the-pan” or a durable entity with a future – I don’t know – time will tell… The point is that they looked at her background thoroughly and hard.  The press did what they are supposed to do.

This is about President-elect Obama.   Many questions were left unanswered… is he a naturalized citizen? What are his connections to Reverend Williams, Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, Governor Blagojevich?  Who financed his world wide trip, shortly after college? What was his relationship to Acorn?  How could he afford a $3 million home and were his financial records thoroughly reviewed?  We are now told that Chicago politics is a cess-pool of corruption – was he soiled?  All of these questions might have led nowhere, but the press didn’t look – it seemed like they didn’t want to find anything.  If he is completely clean, then his story is more remarkable and it should have been told.

Otherwise, I like the President-elect.  What a role model for our youth. He demonstrates the importance of education, and has unequalled ability to express himself articulately.  He is a family man and has unquestioned devotion to his wife and daughters.  While it is too soon to tell, so far, he has shown a political shrewdness and organizational skill that will serve him and us well.  His leadership comes naturally.

Back to my car metaphor.  I believe it was the same year, when my uncle Irving drove another Chrysler product into our driveway.  He was a car salesman and drove demos – it was a three-tone –  a red, white, and blue Plymouth !  They just don’t make them like that anymore.  To my nine year old eyes, it was better than the pink and black Dodge, in retrospect, it was almost as ugly.  I guess you could say that the red, white, and blue colors were a symbol of a symbol.  Our flag.  The purpose of a symbol is to convey identity and emotion.  In this respect, our flag, along with the cross, and the swastika, is among the most famous in the history of civilization.  People view symbols differently.  Few see the flag as I see it.  To me it is about liberty and the founding principles.  To other Americans it represents our history and national pride. To most of the world, it is seen as a symbol of power and dominance – it is both respected and reviled.

Obama, himself, has become a symbol.  For many his Presidency evokes the emotions of pride, hope and justice.  For some it conjures bigotry and hate.  A few see it as I do.  If all issues could be condensed to one, for me, it would be liberty vs. slavery, i.e. individualism vs. statism.  It is with this view, that as we enter the era of President Obama, I go with fear, not of him as an individual, but fear of his ideas and his agenda.  I hope and pray that this fear is unfounded.

The article, which produced these reflections, follows:

In a few short days, an African American man will move from his private residence into a much larger and infinitely more expensive one owned not by him but by the taxpayers. A vast lawn, a perimeter fence and many well trained security specialists will insulate him from the rest of us but the mere fact that this man will be residing in this house should make us all stop and count our blessings - because it proves that we live in a nation where anything is possible.

Many believed this day would never come. Most of us hoped and prayed that it would, but few of us actually believed we would live to see it. Racism is an ugly thing in all of it's forms and there is little doubt that if this man had moved into this house fifteen years ago, there would have been a great outcry - possibly even rioting in the streets.

Today, we can all be both grateful and proud that no such mayhem will take place when this man takes up residency in this house.

This man, moving into this house at this time in our nation's history is much more than a simple change of addresses for him - it is proof of a change in our attitude as a nation. It is an amends of sorts - the righting of a great wrong. It is a symbol of our growth, and of our willingness to "judge a man, not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character".

There can be little doubt now that the vast majority of us truly believe that this man has earned both his place in history and his new address. His time in this house will not be easy - it will be fraught with danger and he will face many challenges. I am sure there will be many times when he asks himself how in the world he ended up here and like all who have gone before him, the experience will age him greatly.

But I for one will not waste an ounce of worry for his sake - because in every way a man can, he asked for this. His whole life for the past fifteen years appears to have been inexorably leading this man toward this house. It is highly probable that that in the past, despite all of his actions, racism would have kept this man out of this house.   Today, I thank the lord above that I am an American and that I live in a nation where wrongs are righted, where justice matters and where truly anything is possible.