On Obama’s Thank You. Or, “My dad is officially more prolific than I am.”
November 14, 2012
As you may know if you've been following along, I asked my dad to respond to the now-viral video of President Obama's thank you to his staff. I definitely didn't expect this. But, as he said to me in his email from this morning, "perhaps we should have no expectations."
Dear Andrea,
I’ve watched the video a few times and you are right. What you see, as you put it, is a humbled public servant in an unscripted moment as he thanks campaign workers. He comes across as eloquent and deeply moved by the circumstances. What he told the young people there came from the heart. It’s no wonder Obama himself was moved to tears at this baring of the soul. I can see why you feel the way you do.
If only there had been more moments like this during the last four years. Here you see someone you can believe in because of the simple honesty in which the message is delivered. Where I differ is that this was not the way Obama usually carried out his duties. A case about your assessment of a person self-possessed can be made even though it is not as apparent to me in this video.
So let’s agree that we see this video very similarly. What we will disagree on in the upcoming essays are the actual policies, the unkept promises and mistakes. We will agree on the good things that Obama has been able to do and question whether these positives can make the case for another 4 year term of the same, however moot that is at this point.
I’m glad you began this project. I admit I feel relief that I can share these things with you and I think the way you set it up is ingenious. It allows us to discuss without fear of repercussion. The neutral party in these writings is the readers that we know are there even though they are not present at the time. You are brilliant!
Dad