In this latest episode of NeOBama, Black President, we find our hero having to take on unprecedented presidential powers by up and firing a White man, publically. Yes, that's right, he fired a White man. Publically. (!!!!!!!!) It seems like people are okay with it, but everyone knows something is wrong here. Never has the president of the United States come out and just fire someone like that. And never has the president of the Unites States been a Black man.
***hee hee, what if he hired Tony Dungy to run GM? hee, hee***
Sure, we see Black men getting fired all the time on TV. That's nothing new. (If you want to see how it happens, tune your rss feeds to Michael Steele.)
But something has changed.Somewhere in the American psyche, I don't think this offense is going to be forgiven. If this economy thing turns out okay (quickly), than NeObama may not have to pay too high a toll for doing what he's done. I'm not trying to be ominous by saying that he will pay some kind of toll.
But also: he gonna be aight.
I don't know if I would call myself a truebeliever in NeObama. I'm a writer, so it's hard to escape the potential for good story that he brings. He's such an apt, living metaphor for a whole bunch of things that I'm interested in: race, education, hoop, messaih-ing. On top of that, he just seems like a fair, considerate person, and a cool brother.
And now he's becoming one of the most powerful presidents in recent memory. He let them build this Presidency Monster over the last twelve years (line item vetoes, national security, War on Terror, executive privilege, etc) and then he came in and took the controls.
I learned from the campaign to not get worked up on the day to day fluctuations of politics and finance. Everybody was swinging for his head and no one actually made any contact. You had three of the biggest brawlers on the planet and they couldn't land anything. He broke every fundraising record they had. All I know is that dude doesn't lose much. He's not used to it.
Which leads me to another point. Lest you think that my fascination with NeObama is some kind of radical mulatto identification (although NeObama is the essential mulatto), his position causes me worry. What if he does do it? What if he restores America to prosperity and there ain't no war and people can get a job? What if that happened?
Well, you would be left with the most muscular presidency of all time. NeObama would be like the Tiger Woods of politics. He would blow away the field in fundraising and star power. He would be almost like a king. And although something about that feels right, it's not the man or woman who holds the office, it's the office which is most important. You know, the republic and all of that.
NeObama changed the game, but we have to make sure the game is still there to be played after he's done. NeObama's true moment of clarity, as a president, as a man, will be when he has the opportunity to scale back the powers of that presidency. The political system is always more important than the individual politicians who function within it. We can't afford another Bush/Cheney, ever. The world couldn't sustain it.
