What Obama Needs Right Now
By Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University
MSNBC’s TheGrio.com.
- Obama prepares for pivotal health care speech
- Michael Vick warns students about the dangers of peer pressure
- Welcome to the age of "No Child Left Un-Politicized"
This week, Michael Jordan will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. He will always be remembered for his many accomplishments and record-breaking achievements in the sport. However, as President Obama prepares to put on a full-court press for health care reform in a speech to Congress tonight, he needs only to look back at one performance from "His Airness" to gain inspiration.
Twelve years ago, in the NBA Finals, Michael Jordan was going to lose. Sick with the flu, he could barely walk, and his aura of invincibility had been shattered in the eyes of the American public. Mike was going to finally relinquish one of his many titles and Karl Malone was going to get the championship that we all now know he never received.
But Mike was Mike, and Karl wasn’t. Mike found a way to win and Karl Malone found a way to become "posterized" as yet another footnote in the astonishing legacy of the great Michael Jordan. Every great man or woman has an opportunity to build his or her legend, and it comes during the most trying of times. It is how we respond to these moments that make the difference between becoming Michael Jordan or just another Charles Barkley.
What President Obama needs right now is to end the farce and open the White House to the thinkers that managed to get him elected in spite of all the stumbles and missteps. He needs to come down off his Harvard “High Horse” and permit people to us their “God Given Talents” to help this nation out of a financial crisis made worse by bailing out bank CEO’s, buying troubled companies too big to fail, and supporting insurance companies that ripped America off since 9-11. He needs to come clean and admit that “The Little People” who helped him have clearly proved to be invaluable with or without Harvard’s stamp of approval. What Obama needs is “The Democratic Version of Karl Rove” to serve privately as “Obama’s Brain.” Can ego permit him to grant “Equal Access” to the White House? That’s exactly what Obama needs to do, but he told the world that the “Childish Things” and “Petty Grievances” we fought over are no longer valid. He’s wrong. What’s worse is compromise after a sweeping victory. Obama fuels the fire in the opposition that is defeating him. Obama is keeping hope alive in the GOP! Hire the Karl Rove that got you elected! Bring some new blood that created the Obama Youth Movement into the White House. The keys to Obama’s victory were Kennedy, Kerry, Edwards, Dean, Oprah, Young Democrats and a Quasi-Liberal who said, “We Can.” The White House talks in code. School House Rock, Animal House, Childish Things and so many other references are code.