We now have a new president by the name of Barack Obama. He is a man who has come from a very mixed background; a father who left him (something I feel he still struggles with), raised by a single mother along with his two committed grandparents. He is a man who was shaped by the dream of Martin Luther King and is now the embodiment of that dream. He is a man of extreme intelligence, great ambition, and thoughtful analysis. He was raised in Hawaii, taught in private school, educated at Harvard. He has been a man committed to the value of helping others by being engaged in community organizations which helped those who appear to have no help. He was an Illinois state senator and later ran for the Senate of that state only to run for President of the United States two years later and win. There are many good qualities which President Obama appears to hold, one of which I believe is his faithfulness to his wife and the role model he continues to be to his children. In many ways he is a true role model of family life for the African-American community. Perseverance is another quality I believe he shows. During the campaign against both Clinton and McCain perseverance showed up more than once as the campaign became a grueling task of swaps that were made back and forth. I believe that President Barack Obama is a person of moral character. He has done or said nothing which says otherwise.
However, having said that I believe that historically we are in the greatest danger we have ever been in during our two hundred plus years as a nation. I believe we are in more danger than we may have been during the Civil War. Why? Not because of President Barack Obama, but because of our own selfish ambitions. We have allowed desperation to become our key word. Our forefathers believed in independence and hard work. Today we live in an overwhelming society of “give me’s.” We constantly want more for less without giving anything. President Obama is not only the embodiment of Martin Luther King’s dream, but is also the embodiment of the great American tragedy.
President Barack Obama is more like Franklin Roosevelt than Abraham Lincoln. Franklin Roosevelt came to power as president during the turbulent times of the Great Depression. He was charismatic, thought provoking and was ushered in by a public who was tired of prohibition and high taxes. Basically the people wanted the roaring twenties to return and the ability to toast the night away without worrying about law enforcement ruining the party. The problem was that a repeal of the 18th Amendment or Prohibition did not ease the suffering nor did it bring back prosperity. Neither did the New Deal which ambitiously placed the Federal Government as an employer. In 1933 when he became president the unemployment rate was 23% but in 1937 it fell to 14.5% which sounds good. But in 1938 it raised to 19% only to continue climbing to the eve of the December 7th, 1941 the Pearl Harbor attack. In fact the New Deal was so intrusive that in 1947 it interfered with the private sector being able to start up the creation of new jobs causing the nation to go through a sever recession which almost plunged it back into the Great Depression. This new form of socialism brought with it a hefty price tag as well. Federal taxation on people went from 25% in 1930 under President Hoover (who raised taxes on the people in 1930 as the Depression deepened) to 79% in 1946 under both Roosevelt and Truman. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123215398370892313.html?mod=googlenews_wsj )
Under President George W. Bush we have enjoyed to pretty strong economics, while not as strong as the late 1990’s under President Bill Clinton. Either way the economy was strong and it was constant. However I believe that President George W. Bush and his staff started taking us down a road that President Obama will continue. It was a path toward greater socialism through the financial bailouts of our banking system in the fall of 2008. President Barak Obama will not call his intrusive policies the New Deal, but it could be called a “New Day.” At least that is the constant rant that he quotes. I believe that President Obama will be a one term president much like Jimmy Carter. There have already been signs of tension in the Democratic leadership which threatens unity. (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/08/key-senate-democrats-blast-obama-tax-proposals/ ) Our new President has made a huge amount of promises which he may not be able to fulfill, as do most presidents. However, this President ran on style not substance. I go back to one of my pre-election blogs where I stated that those who were ushering our President into office were acting more like 3rd grade playground kids than logical, thought provoking adults. I’m still looking around wondering if we are in 1982 again and if I’m still in high school where the prettiest girl gets voted in as class president, not the smartest.
I worry about his moral convictions regarding abortion and the homosexual movement. He is very post modern in his approach which, at times, makes me a little uncomfortable. It appears that he is gaining a stronger view of many of the military and intelligence issues, even thought I still worry about those issues as well.
So what do we do in this situation? Simple! Pray! Pray for our new President, for his health, safety, salvation, and understanding of the issues. Pray for his family that he and they will continue to enjoy the grace of our Lord while being our leader. Pray that God will turn his and our Vice-President’s heart in the right direction. Pray that we as Evangelicals will be a light to our President, always speaking the truth in love. Even then pray for each other, that we will stand on our convictions from Scripture first and foremost. Pray that we will be willing to oppose the President when necessary, but never neglect to treat him with respect as a person and as our President. Who knows maybe God will use him in a way that we could never imagine.
No comments:
Post a Comment