At some point in the future you will see Barack Obama on a TV somewhere delivering a speech and think, "Oh, there's the President," rather than, "OH MY GOD, that's the President!" When it happens it will be a natural and healthy thing-and remember, apart from the sheer historical fact of his presidency, the guy hasn't yet been in office for six full months-but I hope familiarity doesn't blind us to his ability to inspire. If you missed last night's speech to the NAACP, I would really encourage you to watch; it's one of the most dazzling performances I've seen the man deliver. Let's hope he's given enough time to follow through on the promises implied (ending DADT and DOMA at some point soon would be a good start!) so that when we're finally all, "Oh, there's the President," it's with a sense of prideful boredom rather than scornful disinterest. But go ahead and watch.
The term "awe-inspiring" is really overused – but that's exactly what this speech was. If he succeeds in getting his message to take hold, it could be the single greatest accomplishment of his presidency.
And then he said, "And we must legalize gay marriage" and then an awkward silence fell over the NAACP crowd.
Don't even get me started…
But I DID like the part where he talked about how, when Michelle's out of town, he feeds the girl's cake for breakfast and they sing a little song about it.
He is on TV waaayyyy too much. Use your power wisely, Luke!
Heard this last night, was ready once again to follow him anywhere until I remembered: warrantless wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, DADT, all those annoying e-mails the perpetual campaign sends me…
For all the reasons #592 lists, and so many more, I can't stand to see or hear him, just like the last guy.