My brother was venting about what business is it of the President what kind of car he drives.
My wife is nervous about getting a chip implanted into her skin, and she shudders when she hears some things the President says because she is currently reading Ayne Rand's "Atlas Shrugged."
I panicked when Clinton gained office because he and his health care aspirations were so radical and unwanted to me.
In hindsight, Clinton left a footprint, but he didn't roll any boulders. To do any damage, a president must be political and compromise. They all will have their personal quests that they must seek to be true to themselves, but these will fail. Such as that great idea Forbes had of a flat tax (never mind that he didn't win office) which never would have made it into law. G. W. Bush seemed to love his idea of assistance to church charities but didn't seem to have much support. The pet ideals these individuals try to champion never fly in this country (that could change if we keep going down hill). But the general posture they carry day to day while in office, the political compromises they are able to coax toward their general philosophy as they do their job are the things that leave a mark and add sand to the castle. In this sense, the more bland they are, the more time they spend doing actual work and the less championing of new ideas, the more dangerously effective they will be. Like G. W. Bush, perhaps. Or Reagan.
So someone like Obama with lotsa fresh ideas (shall we say) isn't any more threat than what incremental things he accomplishes behind the scenes (he does things like that - have you noticed?). Pay no attention to his speeches (he's good at that). Worry about what he did an hour before or after. I celebrate his fresh ideas and his speeches and the fact that he can gain office and preach to and counsel us, his people. To me, that is what a president is for. If I were President, I would promote my radical ideas and give lots of fireside broadcasts, telling the people what I think they should be and do. And I would give them encouragement. I have often thought of this and the good effect it would have if done according to the Spirit. And the more a president is out promoting his great ideas, the less time he has to sneak around behind the curtain. So bully for whatever he says on TV, etc. Good for him.
Relatively speaking, Mr. Obama cannot do damage or make change any more than you or I; he is in the same ballpark: he is a human being, an American citizen, not a god or a devil. In the final analysis, damage to our country and our world (or any significant change for the worse) will come not because of a Mr. Obama or a president, but because the mass of people across the land shirked individual responsibility.
One of those individual responsibilities is to speak out in answer to your President's speeches.
It's the people, not the president or the congress. To some extent, it is Hollywood.
If there is a utopian society in your future you will need to have been a good citizen to become a part of it. So be a good citizen even if the whole world has already gone to pot or you will be shut out. And don't cheat on your taxes because you can. Your integrity is worth more than all the money you could ever acquire. Don't sell it for $200.
