Just as athletes hit the pros with a dual reality of potential and inexperience, our 44th president moves into the White House with similar traits but with a lot more on the line.
In the top round of last year's draft, the United States of America selected talented Barack Obama. The former senator from Illinois used the last 2 months to prepare to quarterback the most prestigious franchise on the globe. Last Tuesday, the overall number one pick stood center stage as he began leading his team to the Promised Land.
Sounds like your favorite sports team? Just as athletes hit the pros with a dual reality of potential and inexperience, our 44th president moves into the White House with similar traits but with a lot more on the line.
Franchise picks are expected to reverse the fortunes of struggling organizations with their unique talents and charisma. We expect them to sell out stadiums and instill confidence into the fan base. Most importantly, we need them to create wins - early, often, and consistently. Politically speaking, Obama must do the same for our country.
However, Barry Franchise has already made rookie mistakes since moving into the White House. He became the first Black president of the United States at noon on January 20th, and by 1 PM, he became the third president that decided to redo his presidential oath because of stumbling while on the world stage. He signed an executive order to fund international abortion services with federal tax dollars at a time when America is in deep economic crisis, only to rescind his executive order when soundly criticized for the move. And then there's the order to close Guantanamo Bay within a year amid speculation that solid plans on what to do with the detainees are far from complete.
To paraphrase Peyton Manning, even top-flight quarterbacks with laser, rocket arms - or, in politics, eloquence and charisma - still fumble the ball, misread defenses, and throw interceptions as rookies. President Obama is no different, except for one point. There is not a 2 year plan to slowly acclimate this new leader. We have a critical need for change right now. That change we can believe in must now involve less talk of hope and more actual wins because January 20th signaled "game on" for us all.
Lenny McAllister-lives in the Charlotte, North Carolina metropolitan area. Before graduating from prestigious Davidson College (NC), Lenny played a role in aiding the long process of procuring nationally- renowned Alpha Phi Alpha as the first historically Black fraternity established on the College’s campus. McAllister was featured as a political commentator and writer during the Republican National Convention for several national and international outlets including CNN, CNN International, BBC World News, and Black Entertainment Television. In addition, McAllister was a guest host on the Fox News primetime webcast with Shepard Smith before Gov. Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech and a featured guest on “ABC News NOW” with Sam Donaldson in primetime before Senator John McCain’s acceptance speech.
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