Celebrity
The politics of celebrity have merged with the celebrity of politics. This is very dangerous in a democracy.
Mr. Obama is the President. Being President in a democracy is a job of a peer, elected to fulfill an administrative function as a civil servant for a defined period of time. A President is not a rock star. A President is not a quarterback. A President is not a Pope. A President is not a king or emperor.
While I admire President Obama as a human being who has worked hard for himself and for the American public in a difficult job, I do not see him as superhuman or ordained by a higher power to be a savior. Perhaps my job as a registered nurse over two decades with the desperate and the famous has shaped my views. I know that everybody has the same basic anatomy and bodily functions. I know everybody has insecurities and flaws.
If we all calmed down and stopped fighting for our "team" by growing up a little bit, the great divide of the true middle class, who are the heart and soul of a democracy, could be healed. This is contrary to the wishes of the wealthy, who are invested in the division of the middle class to maintain their dominance, avoid taxation and insure transmission of their wealth to their progeny. If we could untangle entertainment and professional sports from politics and government, we would all be better off.
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| Photo: USLaw.com |
I recently heard interviews with participants in some of Mr. Obama's community gatherings, his attempts at appearing folksy in the countryside, where the Tea Party has manipulated the uninformed to support policies which are to their own disadvantage. Some of the interviewed participants spoke of being hugged or touched by Mr. Obama in a way that reminded me of teen-aged girls talking about The Beatles in my generation. It was quite creepy.
Mr. Obama is the President. Being President in a democracy is a job of a peer, elected to fulfill an administrative function as a civil servant for a defined period of time. A President is not a rock star. A President is not a quarterback. A President is not a Pope. A President is not a king or emperor.
While I admire President Obama as a human being who has worked hard for himself and for the American public in a difficult job, I do not see him as superhuman or ordained by a higher power to be a savior. Perhaps my job as a registered nurse over two decades with the desperate and the famous has shaped my views. I know that everybody has the same basic anatomy and bodily functions. I know everybody has insecurities and flaws.
If we all calmed down and stopped fighting for our "team" by growing up a little bit, the great divide of the true middle class, who are the heart and soul of a democracy, could be healed. This is contrary to the wishes of the wealthy, who are invested in the division of the middle class to maintain their dominance, avoid taxation and insure transmission of their wealth to their progeny. If we could untangle entertainment and professional sports from politics and government, we would all be better off.
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