great column by Michael Graham

A fable in the folly
As a leader seeks to become a legend . . .
By Michael Graham | Tuesday, January 20, 2009 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Op-Ed

As a card-carrying member of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy, I have a special Inauguration Day message for my fellow conservatives:

Shut up.

Just let it go. Let the Bush-bashers wave their “1-20-09” bumper stickers. Let fawning reporters swoon like teen girls at a “Twilight” cast party. Let Sheryl Crow babble on about Barack Obama saving the planet one roll of toilet paper at a time.

Today is their day, not ours.

So if you happen to work at one of the estimated 5 percent of U.S. businesses closed in observance of the inauguration, enjoy the day off. If, like UMass Medical School, your employer is setting up big-screen TVs so employees can watch the inauguration on the clock - grab a seat up front.

Don’t grouse about how your company never did any of this when Republicans were winning. You’re right - but nobody cares. Don’t whine about the same media demanding we rally ’round Obama today doing all it could to trash George Bush for eight years - old news.

Instead, just add a Bloody Mary to your breakfast menu, sneak one of the wife’s Prozacs into your lunch box and let the day roll on.

Don’t avoid Obama’s address, which will be impossible unless you’re Amish or own a sensory-deprivation tank. Just watch and listen.

No, I’m not asking you to drink the Kool-Aid and discover the joys of European-style socialism. With the Bush administration nationalizing banks and bailing out big business, there won’t be much left for Obama to “socialize” anyway.

Like it or not, Obama has connected with a large number of our fellow citizens. Already 65 percent of Americans expect him to be a great president, an AP poll says. More than 70 percent believe he’ll fix the economy in his first year, and 72 percent expect the stock market to rise.

All this, from a guy with no executive experience and less than one term in the U.S. Senate. It makes no sense, I agree. Which is why conservatives in particular need to listen to Obama today.

Because Obama’s message and persona are resonating with millions of Americans. To use a metaphor my fellow capitalists can relate to, Obama is increasing market share by meeting pent-up consumer demand. But demand for what?

It’s tempting to say that the only demand on Obama is that he not be Bush. Or you can attribute Obamania to the unique role he plays in the ongoing saga of American race relations.

But I believe President Obama will represent more than that when he stands behind the podium at noon and speaks to what Rolling Stone calls “an eager nation.” It’s a nation eager for a president who both wants to do great things and has the competence to achieve them.

What are voters saying with their support of Obama? I believe it’s that they want a president that can do both. Who can be a competent politician and a courageous leader at the same time.

There is no reason, by the way, to believe Obama will be such a president. But he has convinced Americans he can be, in part because that’s the leader we need him to be.

When Obama speaks today, these desires and demands will echo through his words. Smart conservatives who believe our ideas do the most to make the best America will listen. And learn.