Editorial: Great Expectations...

As excited as you might be that I'll be touching on Dickens' breathtakingly dull novel, I instead refer to the current "buzz" - Obama's new tenure as our President.

I understand how great it is that we have an African American as president; one who promised (and seems to be following through) sweeping changes in how our government operates, and how the United States as a whole operates. But... He's just the president. Take a minute, and follow that link. Sure, over the years since it's conception the president's powers have been expanded and diminished through the history of this country, but at the present, this does not make him a god. He can't wave his hand and make the economy perfect; in fact, there are vigourous debates among learned economists over what actions could improve our current state of economy.

I don't dislike Obama; I may disagree with some of his plans for policy (e.g. universal healthcare), but what vexes me is the faith and expectations that people have placed on him. Perhaps eight years under an absolute doofus of a president has provided society to see that anything is better than Bush was, and Obama's charisma increases the pedestal on which the American public seems to have placed him, but regardles: primus inter pares. He has power, but essentially he can be considered as a first among equals. The only way that he could possibly do all that others envisage him to do would be if he had absolute authority (which the country didn't like under a certain monkey faced president).

Why the brief editorial? This is just an instance where the ignorance of others in their hope that all their problems will disappear now that Obama is on the stand has driven me to frustration. Deal with your own problems, despite who's president! Hopefully America won't look quite like the cocky, ignorant bully with an intelligent, charismatic, and diverse Head of State, but otherwise, I wish people would stop expecting miracles from a government that has a less than stellar record.