Mr. President

Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States.  He has become a Rorschach President.  People's opinions say more about themselves than they do about President Obama.  Contrary to urban myth, President Obama is not a muslim or a communist or a black power advocate.  He is also not a prophet or a saint or the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln.

President Obama loves basketball, he collects Spiderman comic books, he listens to Miles Davis & Bob Dylan.  His favorite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.  On his first date with Michelle, he took her to see Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing.  In Swahili, his name means "one who is blessed."

Like a true leader, President Obama has voiced opinions and taken actions that are not always popular.  He passed the only meaningful health care legislation in our country's history, he ended the war in Iraq, he rescued the auto industry, he repealed Don't Ask Don't Tell, he stopped torture as a policy, he removed Bin Laden as a threat, he whittled down Al Qaeda, he overhauled our country's food safety system, he advanced women's rights in the workplace, he invested in clean energy and the nation's aging highway system and he re-instituted regulation over the out-of-control financial sector.  President Obama has done all this while battling unprecedented obstructionism from the GOP Congress.

Shortly after the election in 2008, I met a woman at a party in Los Angeles who claimed to be a numerologist.  She said that in numerology the number "4" corresponds to "work and effort." "44" equates to "double work."  Since Obama was the 44th President, the woman claimed his presidency would require a tremendous amount of effort.  Nothing would come easy and progress would be slow and plodding.  She went on to say the "44" indicated that Obama would preside for two presidential terms of "4" years each.  "The numbers never lie and this is what the numbers say," she insisted.  As we reach the final week before the 2012 election, I take heart from this strange conversation from four years ago. The current polls indicate a dead heat between Obama and Romney.  I'm no numerologist, but like everyone else I'm searching for election-time solace wherever I can. (6" x 7", black ink print) (original sketch by Gabrielle)