Saturday, February 16, 2008
Pride in a president
Conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan posted a letter from one of his readers explaining why they are supporting Barack Obama for president. It’s a powerful letter nicely sums up just why I voted for him earlier this week and hopefully will be voting for him again this November:
There’s one salient reason why people of my age are supporting Obama and that’s because we feel that Obama will finally show us what it means to be proud of our president.
I read more than I should about politics and US history and am always confused as to how Americans can love their president so. Intellectually I understand why Americans love(d) Lincoln and the Roosevelts but I never felt why they did.
Andrew, people my age are too young to remember Bill Clinton. All we have is George W. Bush. The office of the President to us is a mockery. We don’t link President Bush to concepts such as leader, we link it to ignorance and idiocy. Most people my age have never felt proud of our President. We grew up on the Daily Show, we only know how to make fun of him and mock him.
I attended an Obama rally a few days ago and was amazed at how filled up with emotion I was. Halfway through his speech, other 21 year olds just like that filled the Hall were screaming their heads off, waving banners, and grinning. Everyone was giddy, hell even I was giddy. I was smiling and chanting along to “Yes We Can.” I didn’t know what that feeling was because I had never felt it. But then I realized it. It was pride. I was proud of Obama.
I know you’ve felt proud of Reagan and others have felt proud of Bill Clinton. I can’t wait to actually know what it feels like to be proud of my President and not embarrassed by him. That’s why at least my generation is turning out in droves to make Obama president. We’ve finally got a taste of what it feels like to be proud of our President and we’re not giving that feeling up.
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How can he feel proud of someone who hasn’t done anything yet?
It’s not what he has done so far. When we vote for a president, it’s not some type of award for past achievements or accomplishments. It’s what we feel he or she is capable of doing in the future.
As far as looking at the past, he was against the invasion of Iraq when it wasn’t very popular to be against it. He didn’t care that some would think he was some sort of pussy.
Yeah, but you can’t feel pride for something that hasn’t occurred. Is the guy proud that Obama MIGHT be President? It’s very weird.
And even if he is elected President, wouldn’t he have to do something in order for someone to be proud?
And come on- the motherfucker is saying how he felt proud of Ronald Reagan. That’s just disgusting. Wasn’t that the President who tried to have ketchup classed as a vegetable so they could cheap out on school lunches for poor kids? Very proud, indeed.
Maybe they feel pride in the present sense because they are proud to support him NOW in the election. I know I felt good — proud even — when I cast my vote for him. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that when voting for a president. I voted for Clinton the first time because I thought it would be a hoot to see his smiling mug hanging on my commanding officer’s office wall. That, and I hated George Bush v1.0.
And the person writing the letter is not the one who felt proud of Ronald Reagan. They were referring to Andrew Sullivan feeling proud of Reagan.