The Benefit of the Doubt

As we move past the election and through the transition period, I'm beginning to realize how much I'm giving Obama the benefit of the doubt. In the all the decisions he has to make, both as to cabinet appointments, staff, and then policy, there is no way I can know all the details and background information that is going into those decisions. And so I tend to say to myself, "well, I trust his basic judgment and intelligence and vision for our country, so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt."

I also realize how much the supporters of President Bush, because they agreed with what they knew of him and his political perspective, gave him the benefit of the doubt with regards to the war in Iraq. I didn't agree with him on many things at all, so I was very suspicious (and my suspicions, such as on WMD in Iraq, turned out to be correct). And now, I can imagine that those who don't agree with Obama and didn't vote for him are suspicious of his decisions. I guess that's the way these things work.

Obama's pragmatic, centrist approach is no surprise to me, since I understood from the beginning that that is the way he does things, believing that you can only achieve you're goals that way. But I also believe that his goals are what you might call 'liberal'. Phase out the war in Iraq. Use more soft power. Try to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Be more multilateral in our foreign relations. Work for peace. Fight global warming. Try to help the average American more than the wealthy and powerful.

But he has been handed an enormous economic crisis to deal with first. And he will need all his intelligence, listening skills, political skills, and wisdom to get this one under control. This is the job he wanted. I hope he likes it.