Barack Obama: End of the Celebrity, beginning of the Presidency!

So after 1 year of Barack Obama as the President of the Free World – what we’ve learned about him and the future. Perhaps this just might be a single term presidency! 

Barack Obama: The promises of a lifetime

After the global euphoria over Barack Obama’s rise to the most powerful job in the world, the perfect inauguration and the now famous dance with the First Lady Michelle Obama over Etta James eternal longing love song “At Last”, it seemed the world had fallen in love with the First Black President of America. The world believed in his words, his love for equality and peace, that charismatic smile and of course the good looks! The legendary “Yes We Can” speech which still lives fresh in memory, Obama was quickly becoming the new JFK of Internet generation.

From Day 1, the unparallel global media attention over his every move, political pundits predicting the dawn of a new world, everything seemed to be going well. Even people like Bill O’ Reilly, the right-wing Fox commentator, was impressed and gave him a cautious thumbs up!  His inner circle – Robert Gibbs became White House spokesman, Rahm Emmanuel – the White House Chief of Staff, his best friend and “soul mate” David Axelrod becomes his Chief Advisor. The former First Lady and his main rival for the democratic ticket Hillary Clinton becomes the Secretary of State.

And let’s not forget Mr. Vice President – Joe Biden whose gaffe prone image was the perfect foil for the straight talking Obama! So what happened?

The first glimpse of a rookie administration started when there were goof ups on appointing a Treasure Secretary. Senator from South Dakota – Tom Daschle withdrew his nomination because of not paying taxes. He then roped in Timothy Geithner, who again was investigated due not paying taxes. But the polls forgave him after he appeared on Anderson Copper 360 and said he was sorry. I have never heard a head of state say “sorry”. Public support was vaguely back. The Obama spin machine’s constant drive for media attention drove him to Jay Leno and David Letterman; notwithstanding the “Special Olympics” comment. He again challenged the media by appearing on Al-Jazeera which was seen more as a deliberate media photo-op! Barack Obama’s one trip to Iraq after a day in Turkey was to shore up the support in the arm forces low on morale. His campaign promise of pulling out of Iraq seemed to go nowhere during the first six months. Obama’s defining moments during his election campaign was Universal Healthcare; it had run into road blocks in the Congress from his own democratic party. And then it was “the economy stupid”! Recovery from the recession as expected was very slow. The AIG bonus payout made a huge dent on his “control Wall Street” credentials.  The final blow came last week when the Democratic Party lost the coveted and previously assured Massachusetts senate seat to Scoot Brown. Robert Gibb during the White House briefing had to quickly douse the fire and blame Martha Coakley for being “dull” and uninspiring.

So here we are, a year later, it seems Joe Biden gaffes were the least of Obama’s problems. In fact he just might be the good guy! Did Barack Obama show us hope and change in a way that the cynical world had not seen before. The expectations were obviously so high that it took the President less than a year to make the “I don’t have a magic wand” statement.

Priyo’s Take: Barack Obama needs some measurable successes. Here are some of them:

• Catching a major terrorist in Afghanistan, perhaps Osama Bin Laden or Ayman Al Zawarhi
• Pushing the Healthcare reform through the congress and the senate before the mid-term elections
• Removing Robert Gates and Ben Bernanke, the two prominent relics of the Bush administration
• Spend less time with the MSNBC Brian Williams crowd playing the President
• During his “Real Time” show on HBO, Bill Maher said that Barack Obama should be a little like Bush when it comes to getting his agenda. He is the President; he can push the Congress on signing the Healthcare reform bill. He does not need to try and get support from both sides of aisle.

Or maybe just maybe, all of his moves, trying to resolve so many issues at once, will pay rich dividends in the time to come. But if he wants to win in 2012 he should hope the GOP make a certain “amazingly stupid” woman from Alaska their candidate.

Oh and one last thing, no more talk shows!