President Barack Obama just finished his address to the nation from the oval office since becoming president. Obama outlined several items that show just what a crossroads the United States and indeed the western world faces as we move forward in a global society with conflicting issues, opportunities and thoughts.
Agree or disagree with the President's positioning, you can't argue with the genuineness of this commitment to making the United States a better place. A place of hope. A place where everyone believes that better days are ahead.
The President is smart enough to know that people's spirits are down. The economy is in the shitter. Job creation is virtually non-existent. People are struggling. Yet he knows that people are resilient. We are able to take a lot as long as we have "hope"
You can't fake the sincerity and belief that we can come together to do better. You need to believe it, run our life like it and continue to inspire others to do it.
True leaders understand this.
President Obama couldn't have had a tougher time since becoming president. he created so much hope that he forgot the key rule of managing expectations. As a result he is being blamed for all he inherited and not being able to fix problems that were created over decades in months.
Yet he still can deliver a speech of hope. A speech that will inspire those who were willing to leave behind the rhetoric and listen.
Closer to home, while running for the Provincial government in New Brunswick is not comparible to being the leader of the free world, all those offering for political office should take note.
New Brunswickers are going through the same tough times. Job creation is at a recent low. The debt is rising. The polls clearly show people are discouraged and fed up.
Now more than ever we need someone who can inspire, create hope and make us believe again that better days are ahead.
Now more than ever we need someone who is willing to drop the rhetoric and rise above. We need a leader to step forward to say - "its time to turn a page" Forget how we got here. Forget whose fault this is and lets look forward together.
That's the leader we want.
It's the leader we need.
