Obama, a Guy You'd Like to Have as President, If Not a Beer

It's a pleasant winter day in Streeterville, one of those days that holds promise of spring, even though it's 2 months away yet. They sun is shining and the late afternoon sun is creating shadows of the row of high rises on Lake Shore Drive on the white frozen expanse of Lake Michigan. It's 26 degrees at the Mini. It's a day for saying good-bye to Bush and Cheney and for saying hello to President Obama and Vice President Biden.

A historic event occurred today and the event was quite a show. I especially enjoyed the quartet that included Yitzhak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma. Don't really know who the black gentleman on clarinet and the white woman on piano were, but they were excellent. I suppose you have to be excellent to qualify to play with Yitzhak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma.

We in Illinois, and in Chicago in particular, are very proud of the new President. We have made history once again. We provided the nation with Abe Lincoln who kept the nation together and oversaw the ending of the institution of slavery. Now, after 144 years we have provided the nation with the very first black President. I suppose that puts us on the cutting edge of race relations for well over a century, OK?

All of that is very nice and pats on the back all around and all that, but there is one additional point that is not being made that needs to be made. Barack Obama is not just a black man, but an intellectual, and openly so. This country has a history of anti-intellectualism and for a man to get himself elected to the highest office in the land while not hiding the fact that he is smart is unique. I feel the need to celebrate this occurrence.

If you look back in history, the overwhelming majority of Presidents have been lawyers, with a healthy helping of military men in the mix. I don't mean to denigrate the smarts it takes to become a lawyer or a General in the U.S. military, but most of these guys tried to portray themselves as men of the people, "Men's men," not as guys who were really smart and could use those smarts to lead the nation well. As recently as President #43, people voted for a guy who they thought, "would be a good guy to sit down and have a beer with." We know where that got us.

I recall distinctly, a history teacher in high school who made the point that Woodrow Wilson was the only U.S. President in history with a PhD. Is it any surprise that Mr. Wilson was the guy who hatched the idea for the League of Nations? (Predecessor to the United Nations)Of course Mr. Wilson, the admitted intellectual didn't do really well in getting all of those regular guys in Congress to go along with him, and the U.S. subsequently never ratified the Treaty of Versailles or joined the League of Nations. Lesson to be taken here, "Can't afford to alienate the regular guys Barack. Take note." (Right, like BHO is reading Views From the 14th Floor. It could happen, hey...)

Later on FDR wasn't such an admitted intellectual, but to solve the problems of the Great Depression that all of those regular guys got us into, he hired a whole bunch of really smart guys. I believe they were called a "Brain Trust." The U.S. government wasn't much on openly smart guys for a long time after that, just strong leaders who could roll up their sleeves and go at it right alongside the rest of the regular guys. Right! Now there was Bill Clinton. The guy was a Rhodes Scholar and the first time he spoke at a Democratic National Convention it was like geek central. Somehow the smart-guy stuff got lost in image-making and the Republicans liked to position him as "Bubba" because he was from Arkansas, well that and some sicko with an uncontrollable libido and quite possibly a lying, cheating criminal of some sort. Any vision of smartness got lost in the shuffle, but he did come out of office with a budget surplus and no wars on hand. Can't say that for the guy who everyone wanted to have a beer with.

Well, the regular guys got the nation in such a mess that it was OK for once in history for a guy to admit, "Yes I went to Harvard Law School and did really well there. Oh, and I didn't get in because my parents were wealthy or connected. I got there on my own merits." He speaks well. He's thoughtful. He's putting together a group of thoughtful people to try to think us out of this mess we're in. Oh, and one thing, every example of intellectuals in the Presidency in the last 100 years, is a member of one party, the Democratic Party.

So, let's celebrate the election of Barack Obama, black man, intellectual, man of the people, an Democrat. Those are a lot of hurdles to overcome to get where he has gotten. I believe he has what it takes.