I'm thinking not, but here's hoping the media digs up some dirt on yesterday's pick-up basketball game in which the President suffered an elbow to his upper lip requiring 12 stitches. I'd love to find out that immediately after being "accidentally" elbowed by one Rey Decerega, director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Obama grabbed Decerega's t-shirt at the neck and hissed, "Hey Rey, I'm the President of the damn United States. No two-bit congressional toady messes with me on my home court, and it's all my home court, homey." For once I want to hear of the Secret Service having to intervene in order to save someone's life from the President. Hey hey, we could all rejoice, the man's got some passion, some fightback. Instead, sadly, we'll probably learn that Obama, while clutching his bloodied mouth, said, "No harm, no foul. My lip shouldn't have gotten in the way of your elbow. I owe you a beer, Rey." Another missed opportunity.
I'm sure I'm hardly the only one at this time to be dragging in that old "stiff upper lip" cliche in regard to Obama. As phrases.org.uk defines it, to have a stiff upper lip means "to remain resolute and unemotional in the face of adversity, or even tragedy." Well, after the results of the recent election, and a continued drop in his approval ratings, if anyone needs to have his stiff upper lip elbowed a bit, or, medically speaking, bled, it's Obama. If not in the heat of the moment (are there any moments for Obama that are more than tepid?) on the basketball court, I'm hoping that the man, supposedly no intellectual slouch, recognizes the metaphoric import of this incident, and comes out with stitched-upped upper lip snarled and showing some teeth now that the Tea Partiers and at-the-half rejuvenated Republicans are taking the court.
For no other reason, if indeed we can look back on Obama's presidency and say, you know, it was right after those 12 stitches that the man started to be more passionate and turn things around, then maybe we can replace or least augment that already worn out phrase, "the tipping point." Sure, some things need to be tipped, but other things need to be elbowed. In a world of TSA gropings, North Korean artillery strikes, continued unemployment, and Sarah Palin's "serious consideration" of running for President, some elbowing is required. I'm hoping that Rey Decerega truly schooled Obama, figuratively if not so literally; that Friday, November 26, 2010, will indeed be Obama's Elbowing Point. Because I'm afraid that if Obama does go the way of Jimmy Carter, the picture-worth-a-million-words defining image of his historic presidency will be this one:
No comments:
Post a Comment