Tuesday may have been the day for poetry. It has given way to the prose.
While President Obama, his family, his friends and his supporters were celebrating in Washington, the stock market lost more than 300 points on Wall Street. Just a little reality check there.
Obama, of course, is not the one who created the economic conditions — he inherited them. And they're his to deal with now. It would be a tough assignment for anyone, and it probably isn't made any easier by the additional pressure he feels, rightly or wrongly, as the first black president.
During the campaign, there were many in the media and the public at large who treated any criticism of Obama as if it were some sort of thinly concealed form of racism when often it was merely the way the game is played. The rules didn't change just because one of the major contestants was black.
In a political campaign, a candidate's words and actions frequently come back to haunt him/her, yet Obama often appeared to get a free ride from those who never seemed to hesitate to slam other candidates in both parties.
I remember a "Saturday Night Live" skit in which a debate questioner grilled Hillary Clinton on the names of foreign leaders. When she failed to answer correctly, the questioner gave her the answer, then turned to Obama and said, "Senator Obama, same question!"
There were relatively few occasions when Obama's statements or policy positions received the kind of intense scrutiny that others' did. Bill Clinton, I recall, was harshly criticized for saying Obama's claims of opposing the Iraq War amounted to a "fairy tale" — although he was right when he said that there was almost no difference between Obama's voting record on the war as a senator and Hillary Clinton's Senate voting record on the same issue during the same time frame.
When Obama entered the Senate, the war was nearly 2 years old. Few, if any, journalists pointed out that Obama did not bear the responsibility for casting a vote in the U.S. Senate when that body addressed the original question of whether to give George W. Bush the authority to invade Iraq. He did not have to weigh the political consequences the way Clinton, John Edwards, even Obama's eventual running mate did.
Now, as president, he must provide leadership on foreign affairs, and that includes the handling of the war. He cannot arbitrarily withdraw all the troops from Iraq and leave that country to the mercy of the terrorists in the region. Does that mean he now supports a war he said he initially opposed? No. It means he comprehends the reality of the situation.
The withdrawal must be done gradually. Iraq must be encouraged to take responsibility for itself. Bush liked to talk about how Iraq became free under his watch, but Iraq will never be truly free until that happens. How it is achieved is now Obama's problem.
He has already taken an important first step in suspending prosecutions at Guantanamo Bay. That's encouraging. But there is so much more that needs to be done.
It is no different with today's economy. Obama enters office facing a situation that is not of his making but nevertheless it is one he must deal with. No truer test of his leadership skills may face him as president than his decisions on that matter. In recent months, the economy has been losing half a million jobs a month, and all indications are that it will continue to be bleak for most of 2009.
Job creation will be a real test of Obama's leadership abilities.
In fact, each day in the Oval Office will be a test for Obama. He will learn there are restrictions in that job, imposed by many sources. That's the way it is in a republic.
Americans can't afford to handle Obama with kid gloves. There are urgent problems facing America today. His diehard supporters must understand that criticism of him is not racist, that people's lives and futures depend on the decisions he makes.
His words in his Inaugural Address implied that he understands that (although, not meaning to quibble, but he was incorrect when he said he was the 44th man to take the oath of office — Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president, so actually Obama is the 43rd man to be sworn in). His actions will confirm whether he really does.
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