All The World’s His Stage

When Barack Hussein Obama takes the podium later this morning to address the world for the first time as the 44th President of the United States, it’s doubtful that any prior address in the history of the planet will reach so many people so fast.

Not only is Obama’s Inaugural address being broadcast live by dozens of television networks and radio stations around the world, it will also be streamed from hundreds of websites and dissected in real-time by thousands of “live-bloggers.”

Once Obama is finished speaking, highlights of the address will be played and replayed, downloaded to video-sharing websites and e-mailed millions of times over, while every nuance of every little excerpt will be blasted out in press releases, opinion pieces and e-mail alerts by individuals representing constituences too numerous to mention.

Perhaps more than at any point in human history – the world will stop and listen to one man.

By the end of the day, literally hundred of millions of people from Washington D.C. to Warsaw, Toronto to Tokyo, Paris to Pyongyang, Moscow to Manila and all points in between will have heard at least some, if not all, of the words that some analysts have already predicted will one day be “chiseled into stone.”

No pressure, right?

For those of you new to FITS, we are not fans of the 44th President.

We opposed in no uncertain terms the ideas advanced by Obama during his campaign last year … but then again we also opposed in no uncertain terms the ideas advanced by his “Republican” opponent, Sen. John McCain.

Just like outgoing President George W. Bush, neither man seemed to us capable of grasping the fundamental solution to the economic crisis currently gripping our nation – i.e. less, not more, government.

And rest assured we’ll be burrowing into Obama’s backside (rhetorically speaking, of course) like a tick in a hound’s hide once all the pomp and circumstance of today’s festivities are over.

But for today – just one day – we’re compelled to give him his due.

Why? Because as much as we have disagreed – and will continue to disagree – with 99.9% of what he and the rest of the Washington establishment have done to this once-proud nation, you can’t say that Barack Obama hasn’t earned the right to stand where he’s standing today.

And as much as we wish history had been made by a black man with ideals that will truly expand individual liberty and prosperity, that doesn’t take away from the historical significance of what’s happening.

In an excellent pre-Inaugural piece published in Sunday’s Washington Post, writer David Mariness explores Obama’s improbable ascension to the highest office in the world (for now).

The whole story is intriguing, but in light of the hundreds of millions who will hear his message today, this passage seems especially relevant:

Many times during the dozen years of Obama’s political rise, he appeared destined only for obscurity. The afternoon in 1998 when he spoke to an audience of seven people at a brightly lit ice cream parlor at 183rd and Crawford Avenue on the southern rim of Chicago, sitting on a wooden stool, relaxed with legs crossed, patiently going through an early version of a stump speech about hope and racial reconciliation that later would become his trademark. In the summer of 2000 when he flew from Chicago to Los Angeles for the Democratic convention and no one knew him, his credit card bounced, and he left after a forlorn day hanging out as an unimportant face lost in the power-lusting crowd. On the January evening in 2003 when he began his U.S. Senate campaign by driving his Jeep Cherokee up from Springfield to Rockford for a banquet honoring black and Hispanic professionals and was barely recognized and not called on to talk, instead having to sit at a back table as a motivational speaker droned on.

Amazing.

Six years after playing second fiddle in his home state to a motivational speaker, the whole world is now his stage.

As we have with hundreds of politicians from both parties at the national, state and local level, we have vehemently criticized and condescendingly made fun of Barack Obama.

At times we’ve even done both – like when we compared the dimensions of his ill-conceived education approach to Kim Kardashian’s rear end.

No, seriously.

But today is Obama’s day, and like we said – despite the kid glove treatment he received at every step along the way from the mainstream media – it’s hard to say he hasn’t earned the audience he now commands.

We salute Barack Obama for his historic achievement, and look forward to following his administration over the next four years – praising him whenever he promotes individual freedom and prosperity and roundly condemning him whenever he doesn’t.

Based on the positions he outlined throughout his campaign and during his high-profile transition period, we suspect to be doing much more of the latter than the former, but today we’re like the rest of the world.

We’re going to stop and listen to what the man has to say …