Trusting vs. Distrusting Obama

Cynical, distrusting:

A large crowd cheers in approval, raising identical signs reading "change" in bold letters. Proudly standing behind a podium, Barrack Obama is ready to speak to the thousands of democrats and converted republicans attending this convention. Although Obama's delivery of his speech raised much applause and unified agreement from the crowd, I have found that I am not swayed by his form, choice of words, and points he has made.

Firstly, the manner in which he attacks his opponent, McCain by pointing out his flaws suggests that Obama's arguments are not strong enough alone and need the support of negative comments to lift his own status up. Furthermore, some of his comments are contradicting. For example, Obama states "So I've got news for you, John McCain. We put our country first," as a remark demonstrating how patriotic the United States is and how the men and women who have gone to war were both Democrat and Republican. This, as noble and grandiose as it sounds, largely contradicts itself; Obama is directly attacking someone from an opposing party as he makes this statement. He's making it seem like we should flat out drop having separate parties and work together as a team. This is completely unrealistic and very unlikely to ever occur in the world of politics.

Obama's string of uplifting, inspiring messages are wonderful sounding, however highly improbable. His entire speech is comprised of uplifting comments such as "I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it," or "Instead, it is that American spirit – that American promise – that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain." As great sounding as these two sentences are, they aren't saying much. He claims he's seen this change take place today when soldiers re-enlist after losing a limb or in the "good neighbor that takes a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise". It is funny how he turns two horrible situations, the war and Hurricane Katrina, into wonderful, beautiful moments of change. Frankly, I hope this new world of change doesn't have injured soldier's re-enlisting. I find that to be a horrible decision that,as noble as it sounds, would not do the country any real good. Secondly, I sure would hope that a neighbor would take in someone who lost everything. I feel that this would be expected in such a terrible situation, and the fact that Obama is pointing it out as a form of "change" worries me for our country.

The American spirit that has pushed us forward "when the path [was] uncertain" is what has landed us in nearly an eight year war. We are too prideful and too full of "American spirit" to return without being called the hero for stopping the corruption in Iraq. Ironically, Iraq is in a much worst shape today. The fact that Obama is praising this American spirit says that his presidency could in fact look similar to Bush's, although he argues strongly that it won't.

At the end of his speech, Obama states "America, we cannot turn back. […] At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future." What does that even mean? How can we not continue into the future? The future is the future and it will happen regardless of whether we march into it or not.

Obama claims that he will invest $150 billion into the development of alternative fuels which will supposed raise five million new jobs in the process. As great as it is that he wants to solve the solution of our dependency of oil, this is going to be a very costly experiment and there's no guarantee that it will even successfully bring about practical forms of fuel that work. It will most likely be years before we develop affordable, useful alternative fuels. The money and time spent during these years, on top of expenses of the war and billions of dollars of debt to repay is going to leave our economy greatly suffering. The long-term outcome might be that the U.S becomes less dependant on oil; however, the short-term result is higher gas prices, higher taxes, and an overall poor economy for the following few years.

Overall, Obama is a man of great promise and hope, but also a man of unrealistic proposals. To entirely trust that he can carry through all of his suggestions and bring about a supposed "change" is very risky. He is going to greatly disappoint millions of people if he is not able to stick to his word. He has given possibly a large amount of hope to America through his beautifully crafted phrases,; however, if America wants to be realistic, it had better be careful about believing Obama's every word.


Optimistic, Trusting:

Barrack Obama appears to be a man of his word. His speech delivered at the convention clearly depicts the fact that he is knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and tactful about the prodecures that the United States must go through to undergo "change".

The following statement depicts his realistic form of the specific uses of the Nation's finances. "Many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime […] I will go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy." The final sentence in the previous quote makes a strong point: the country cannot indeed prodeed to use its money in similar ways of the past because we are no longer in the past. The needs of our country differ greatly from the needs of years past.

Furthermore, Obama instills and reminds the public of what its responsibility is, which shows that he wants to work as a collective force. He gives notion that the public is equally as important as he is in aiding the generation of a large-scale "change". "We must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility. […] We must admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need." Reminding the public that it is up to it to take action is a crucial point it forwarding the well-being of society. Although it takes a great president to help aid the country to move in such a direction, it is up to the people to help fully execute this movement by taking it upon themselves to inspire action. He phrases this concept well, which convinces me that he has well thought out this subject and is an intelligent indivual that fully understands the dynamics of teamwork along with leadership.

Furthermore, Obama's modesty and way of putting the importance on "you" to help make a change, helps the public greatly relate to him and immediately feel apart of his procedures. "I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington. But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you." He essentially puts himself as an equal to the rest of the public through this previous quote. This is most likely the reason why he appears so likeable and trustworthy. Although one might argue that this could just be a cruel tactic to get the public's affection, one must also take into account the possibility that he speaks from truth. If he is in fact speaking truthfully, this statement says much about his character and would be a great inspiration and role-model to our country.

Speaking realistically, Obama openly admits that the government can not possibly find a solution to every problem. "Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology." This tactic of speaking frankly and truthfully, makes it more believable that he his policies will in fact become reality. Furthermore, he makes short, important statements such as "America, now is not the time for small plans" which really drive the point home that he will be a man of great "change" to the United States. This form of speaking gives this time period a sense of great importance and leads one to believe that his manner of thinking is one that will lead to big changes and hopefully big improvement.

Aside from the content of his speech, Obama's manner in which he expresses his thoughts is both inspiring and thought provoking. Although one could argue that his manner of speaking is borderline fantasy-like and unreal sounding, the excitement and passsion he brings forth through his words is undoubtedly inspirational. Frankly, this is what the country needs. Even if Obama does not go forth with all of his plans, the inspiration and drive that he will have instilled will help push forward Americans to strive for the best and work diligently as a team. That in itself will be a great accomplishment and improvement for the United States. The following few phrases embodies the passion behind Obama words. "What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you. For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. […] Change happens because the American people demand it - because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time."

Overall, Obama represents a fresh and truthful outlook for the future. By electing him we are instilling hope into the United States and although Obama's policies may not be entirely realistic, his motive and passion he drives forward will have a lasting impact on the nation. By trusting him, we are infact trusting ourselves - for we too are part of this so called "change". Although Obama may not be the perfect candidate, he is a close as it gets in this election to representing hope for the future of the United States.