I’m going to start this off with a few obvious facts: As we all know, this university is full of politically-minded students, most of whom are left of center, and a majority of these students support President Barack Obama. Obama’s popularity is declining nationwide, and it seems many people are extremely dissatisfied with his apparent lack of anger at British Petroleum, the oil company blamed for the recent Gulf oil spill.
As Obama himself once said, part of being in college is to challenge conventional wisdom. How do we identify conventional wisdom? When you leave the liberal bastion known as College Park and enter the cold, hard world of raw political debate, you may find yourself on the proper end of the most inexplicable misunderstandings, one that your mind’s eye can see, but you find yourself unable to articulate. Disagreements of this nature include trying to explain to your angry Uncle Doug why we can’t simply throw Rush Limbaugh in jail, or telling your parents Obama did not, in fact, craft the bailouts. These beliefs are conventional wisdom, and it’s our job as college students to correct them. The conventional wisdom I wish to address is the notion that the president is supposed to be a kind of extra-concentrated spiritual leader — some sort of emotional bellwether for the rest of the country.
Wait, really?
Yes, there is actually real criticism of Obama for not appearing angry enough at BP. Those who put forth such a ludicrous proposition have heard the counter-arguments before (who says he has to be angry, what will his fake anger accomplish). There’s a deeper force at play here.
Of course, the scenes from the Gulf are devastating. Lives destroyed. Ecosystems turned into biohazards. Diamondback turtles on their backs (gulp). Perhaps people are so angry, Obama’s calmness is unsettling. If he’s not raging and storming at BP, will he hold them fully accountable? Are manners a slippery slope toward appeasement?
Or perhaps we require the president’s personality to mirror our own, as a subconscious way of assuring his priorities are similar to ours. Remember when George W. Bush supposedly defeated Al Gore because he was the man more people would rather have a beer with?
Does any of this sound ridiculous yet?
The truth is anger is a weakness. It infects our reasoning, impedes our decision-making and distracts us from dealing with problems in a fair and efficient manner. It forces us to focus on revenge and punishment rather than relief and recovery. It makes us overcompensate, and challenges our principles.
We elected Obama because he is above this. He is Captain Cool; calm and collected, always placing reasoning above emotion. The American people are now worried that a man so calm and patient won’t be forceful enough to hold BP accountable for the catastrophe it has allowed to happen.
These concerns are unwarranted. Obama and BP have both assured us BP is fully responsible and accountable for the tragedy, and BP has already set up a $20 billion restitution fund. Obama is too smart to let his anger affect his reasoning, and his assertive demeanor will ensure this crisis is handled appropriately. Conventional wisdom, meet reality.
Gregory Nasif is a junior U.S. history major. He can be reached at gnasif at umd dot edu.
