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Thoughts from the corner office at LXBN : Election 2012

November 7, 2012

Grant Park 2008
Grant Park, 2008
Like Ken White at Popehat, I am deeply ambivalent about President Obama’s win last night.

When I was a kid I thought the President had a big impact on the direction of the country. It wasn’t until Gerry Ford’s presidency when I witnessed total gridlock that I became cynical of the whole process. Could the President really get anything done no matter how strong their convictions or the people who elected them?

I still voted every election, but I came to look at the President as someone who needed to be a charismatic leader. Someone who could make us feel good. After all, feeling good about what’s going on and optimistic about the future is 90% of the battle.

Two President’s achieved the ‘feel good’ status in the last 40 years, Reagan and Clinton. I voted for each one time. No matter peoples’ political views these guys garnered the respect of most Americans and made us feel pretty good about where we were headed. If Reagan or Clinton wanted the public’s support on legislation, they got it from most of us.

Four years ago I was in Grant Park in Chicago on election night. I needed to be in Cleveland the next morning. Sensing an opportunity to witness history I flew into Chicago and spent the night at the Palmer House.

I was not disappointed. The Palmer House and all of Chicago was decked out to celebrate the election of one of ‘Chicago’s Very Own’ and to elect the country’s first black president – someone who could bring our nation together to accomplish great things.

Not having a ticket to get into the Grant Park celebration I scalped one just like at a baseball game. A guy came alone and said “Come with me, my wife had to work.”

After making it through waves of security, we made it onto a huge area (4 softball fields) with the stage about a football field away. People were flying flags, parents brought their kids in pajamas to witness history, and the pizza stands behind us made it feel a bit like a carnival atmosphere.

As we saw state after state fall to then candidate Obama on the big screen there was a sense of celebration and somberness – we were present first hand as history was being made. When the election was called I turned around and witnessed as many people moved to tears as were cheering.

Guys around me who had played basketball with the then President elect called their friends and spouses to say ‘Obama’ has the whole presidential motorcade pulling up – even ambulances and police cars in tow. There was the sense that we actually elected one of us – an average guy destined to do great things in the White House.

Just like his campaign speeches, President Elect Obama inspired us to think big, to be optimistic, and to realize our greatest days were ahead. I had told my kids to watch Obama’s campaign speeches because I hadn’t seen anything like him since I was a kid watching Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. The President Elect did not disappoint in his speech to us at Grant Park.

Four years later I’m ambivalent. Politics seems like more of the same. Each side personally attacking the other with an ends justifies the means mentality.

You can tell me to get over it, that it’s just life. But it’s still disappointing.

I grew up with my Mom telling me I could do anything I wanted, even become President of the United States. Father Ted Hesburgh, president of Notre Dame served up more of the same at college. We were told we can go on to anything, to lead, and to make the world a better place. I viewed politics as an opportunity for people to do just that.

Last night President Obama told us again to dream — to believe anything else is possible.

We believe in a generous America, in a compassionate America, in a tolerant America open to the dreams of an immigrant’s daughter who studies in our schools and pledges to our flag — to the young boy on the south side of Chicago who sees a life beyond the nearest street corner  — to the furniture worker’s child in North Carolina who wants to become a doctor or a scientist, an engineer or an entrepreneur, a diplomat or even a president.

I remain optimistic that anything is possible for a person in this country. I’m just not sure the President, this one or the next, is going to help someone get there.

I liked the President including me, an entrepreneur, as someone kids should aspire to be. I don’t like that the President omitted lawyer, a profession on a mom’s short list when I grew up, from his list of doctor, scientist, or engineer.

Maybe I can take inspiration from the President this morning that I can do great things as an entrepreneur by showcasing good lawyers via LexBlog and LXBN. And in doing so, put our profession, being a lawyer, back on the short list of things kids want to grow up to be.

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