Obama burns brightly as ‘flame duck’ president
Counter intuitively, it appears President Obama will not limp out the usually harmless “lame duck” role, much to his gathering credit. After all, he has served seven years already with calm and modest humility in the face of unbridled disdain.
His might be called a “blame duck” presidency thus far. He has been blamed all along the continuum, from arrogant to submissive; from failure to lead to executive excess; from unwillingness to negotiate to abject appeasement. In short, he is blamed just for being.
Amazingly, for all that we have projected of our frequent manias and phobias upon him, he’s still there and still standing! He’s still challenging us, still calling us out at such deep and mean streaks of ourselves, for instance, as all our “exceptional” idolatries of violence – from handguns to nuclear bombs.
In spite of us, if not thanks to us, he has grown to be the “flame duck” president, inextinguishably burning, brightening with spirits of courage and hope. He is blazing our way toward a wiser, more just, thereby more peaceful, future. Ours is but to ignite our own fires.
Thank you, Mr. President. May God keep you safe.
John Auer, Fresno
This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 7:14 AM with the headline "Obama burns brightly as ‘flame duck’ president."