Crushing on the President

After my Donald Trump rant the other day, I'm probably going to alienate even more people when I admit that for the last few weeks (OK, really for about 12 years) I've been crushing on the President.

And he just keeps making it better.

In 2004, when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention, I was inspired and intrigued by the Senator from Illinois.  So intrigued, in fact, that I eventually purchased his book, "The Audacity of Hope" in March of 2007.  I wanted to know more about this guy.

The book was a turning point for me.  I really identified with Barack Obama's world view.  His relentless optimism, his belief in the inherent goodness of people, resonated with me.  The crush began.

As he campaigned in 2008, and I got to see Michelle Obama, and the Obama girls, and Marian Robinson (Michelle's mom) I started crushing on the entire family.

When he made his speech the night of the 2008 election, and told the girls that they could finally have a dog, he was every dad.  Even as he was making history as the first African-American president.

The Press Corps dinners during his eight years in office have been a real treat.  He has awesome comedic timing, and is as comfortable making fun of himself as poking fun at the rest of the Washington elite.

Michelle Obama is my idea of an ideal woman.  She is beautiful, healthy, accomplished and fun.  I feel like we would have been great friends if I had lived near her or gone to school with her.  She is so real and approachable, and very very strong, physically, emotionally and socially.

I don't always agree with the President, I think the Trans Pacific Partnership as currently written is a bad idea.  I'm glad the Affordable Care Act got passed, but I think he spent too much political capital to get it done, and that it has hamstrung his efforts to more the country forward in other ways.

But that is the beauty of a crush.  Crushes don't care about important stuff.  Crushes are about liking smiles, and style and wit.  Crushes are the safe place we can keep from our childhood, where there is no reality or expectation of a relationship, there is just that bubbly happy feeling when we are watching the object of our crush do the things we crush on them for.

So with the Obama Administration coming to an end, there are more and more retrospectives on Barack Obama.   And when I look at the photos, or the video clips, of him with children, or playing with his dogs, or dancing with Michelle, or hanging out with his family, my crush is reinforced.

I will miss him.  I can't imagine another President in my lifetime who will inspire me to crush like this.  The last Presidential crush I had was JFK, and I was only three years old when he died.

I accept that my crush allows me to overlook things that I might otherwise be critical of.  And I do criticize.  But the affection, the respect, the admiration are untarnished by disappointment.

I think the reason why I've maintained my crush for so long is I perceive Barack Obama to be a genuinely caring person.  A person who cares about people, who cares about right and wrong, who cares about America.   Another reason has been his astounding ability to rise above all the stuff that has been thrown at him.

Questions about his birthplace, heckling from the floor of Congress during a State of the Union address, insult after insult about his competence, his education, his character, his religious beliefs; and through it all he has stayed the adult in the room, trying to steer the conversation back to reasonable adult discourse.

Truly crush-worthy in my estimation.  I hope whatever happens in November, he and Michelle do not disappear from the public eye.   I think I'd like to continue crushing on them for a long time.