Seriously Cool?

Are you serious?

Recently one of the nightly news shows ran an editorial on a Republican ad about the President. I almost missed it--but thought better of my disinterest and tuned in. Anyway, the ad said something like, "He's Mr. Cool. He's a Rock Star." They showed him singing Al Green's Let's Stay Together. They showed him in other countries being received to cheering crowds. Alright, I thought, what point are they trying to make? Then the ad went on to say, "But can he run a country?" Duh! He is running the country. Not finished it seems because the ad then ended with, "Who do you want? A serious candidate or Mr. Cool?"

What a bummer. Do I want Mr. Cool? As if cool isn't serious. What kind of question is that anyway? Is it part of the stereotype of black men who swagger without substance? Were they making the point that he was more interested in getting notoriety than being the leader of the Free World? Okay, I know he doesn't have TWO Harvard degrees, but he does have one-and while Romney graduated cum laude, Obama graduated magna cum laud. By the way, they (meaning the Republicans) had to stop using that one since he and Romney did graduate from the same Ivy League school. Oh, but wait, Romney did complain about his Harvard degree when speaking in Pennsylvania. Oh, well. We could start by listing all of Obama's accomplishments, but then we would be spiking the ball, bragging. Wanna define bragging? Bragging is arrogance at its highest. Well, just for the record--it ain't bragging when its fact.

Still, I'm quite concerned about this idea that no matter how good he is or what mistakes he makes, it gets blown out of proportion. However good he is will be diminished by the rhetoric of this Republican party, and whatever mistakes he makes will be enhanced with their unfair evaluations. For some people, he can't win no matter what he does or does not do, so how do we even evaluate his first term fairly with both the anti-Obama rhetoric and the lies. Still, since the Republicans have added the "cool" factor (not as a compliment by the way), perhaps we have been given a way to evaluate this Presidency. Let's look at the cool factor. Remember, Republicans, you brought it up!

What do we want in a president? Personally, I want someone who serves the interests of the American people to the best of his or her (eventually) abilities. He (or she) will work across the aisles of diversity and differences, and when that can't be done, will still make decisions based on integrity and ethics.
It is so easy to say what one would do who doesn't have the chance to prove it. Ask Obama. What he wanted to do, what he was able to do, sometimes took different paths along the way. He'd be (and has been) the first to admit it. But, here's what's cool, seriously cool. He made a promise to make the American people his priority and he has. We're the first thing on his mind each day and that was the promise. Change. He has changed the way we do business in Washington and he's been very cool about it, too. Moreover, he asked us to change with him and we hesitated (some of us did, admit it) and all we did was complain (yes, all of us at one time or another). Still, the cool factor made him work harder than he did the day before, and while there are excuses to be had--he has rolled up his sleeves and stayed to his task of leading this country--FORWARD. So, do we want a serious candidate? Yes, we do and we've got one who not only is serious about his job, but he is very--very--serioiusly--COOL. Think about it!

Peace