Saturday, July 18, 2009

Dr. Jon LaPook Interviews Pres. Obama

Dr. Jon LaPook is the CBS medical correspondent. I normally don't watch the broadcast television interviews but I caught this on Huffington Post and read his write up. I was struck by his wording in that he felt it wasn't just an interview, but a conversation and that Pres. Obama was really listening to him and was curious.

I have read this from others and it is one of the things I have always admired about our president. He listens to all viewpoints and asks questions of people and learns from them. That's one of the marks of a good leader.

I hear people say that he is not forceful enough. But you know, force doesn't always have to be shown in public. Force doesn't always have to be shown as iron will, sometimes it is gentle pressure that moves things as much and more willingly than brute force.

I honestly believe our president uses gentle pressure and works behind the scenes much more than we know, much more than we see to get things done. We yell, we scream, he isn't doing enough, he isn't forceful enough, he needs to get angry, he needs to do this and that. But look at what he has done.

With the gentle pressure he is applying and has applied behind the scenes, we are now seeing the beginnings of Congressional Hearings for Torture, Hearings into the Bush Administrations Crimes, the AG is now talking about a Special Prosecutor, the Recovery Bill was passed, Lilly Ledbetter passed, SChip passed, there are signs we may have DADT & DOMA overturned soon (I know not soon enough for some, but hey at least it is getting done), we are looking at a serious Health Reform Bill in the very near future. And I know I have missed some very important stuff..

All this from someone that a lot of people have said was not experienced enough, was too young, didn't get angry enough, couldn't connect with the voters, isn't an American, isn't patriotic enough, doesn't wear a flag pin, the troops don't like him, throws a baseball like a girl, wears Mom jeans and the list could go on as to what has been thrown at him over the last few months. Just trash talk.

But, folks we have a leader. Yet, I see a lot of people saying he isn't a leader..because he doesn't come out and yell and scream like McCain. Well, I like him just the way he is and I will keep him thank you very much.

Now, just in case you didn't see the interview with Dr. LaPook, here it is so you can watch it. And if you want to read the afterthoughts the doctor had and wrote up in Huffington Post.. you can find them here.


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1 comment:

majii said...

Annette,
One reason many (mostly national republican politicians) have problems with Obama is because they have this pre-determined, ingrained mindset of African American males as being loud, belligerent, uncouth, unintelligent, and unable to do anything beyond the sports and music fields, and the POTUS is not quantifying these pre-conceived notions a lot of them have about AA men. What they do not realize is that there are many AA men like President Obama, they just have not given themselves the opportunity to meet them without letting their biases interfere. My dad had a lot of qualities similar to those Obama has. He was hardworking, husband to one wife, all of his kids were born of his wife, he didn't yell or scream, beat mama, abuse his kids,etc.
I agree with you in that I,too, like our president just the way he is.
Thanks for such insightful writing on your blog. I still love it.