Extravagance In Common

I've had a hard time feeling like I can relate to our President or that he in any way can relate to me. He just seems to have suddenly appeared and taken charge. President Obama doesn't seem to me, to be able to relate to the average American at all. Oh, I know, he's got a following, but usually leaders are, in fact, "not one of the crowd." When President Bush - W. was elected, although I wasn't born with a silver spoon, I could see his supposed relevance in the political arena. It was like a family business. And when President Clinton was elected, it was easy to see that he was in fact completely sold out to politics and had been gleaned for decades, and I'm sure we can go back and see some sort of theme of Americana in each President, but I am having problems seeing it in Barack Obama. This has nothing to do with his complexion, but rather his distance. I know the big debate about his birth certificate, and maybe, maybe not, but clearly he did not spend his formative years in America. And the fact that his name was changed to something less traditionally American also seems foreign, as I watch him. But the fact that I cannot relate, has nothing to do with his name or his sudden rise to power, it's the fact that he is so confident in his new power while remaining so detached. He's apologizing to foreign countries and planning to tax us to death. It just seems he's oblivious to the things that have been consistent through our history. As I watched his high handedness with GM, I couldn't help but think, perhaps if GM hadn't spent a fortune building bullet proof Escalades for politicians, the company might be in better shape now, or maybe they were paid quite well by the tax payers and this is simply a matter of their thinking the company was bullet proof . . .
This past week-end, though, I finally found a way to relate to the Obamas, and of all things, it's in the area of extravagance as a couple. I read that the President had promised his wife, after the election, he'd take her to a Broadway show. When my husband makes a promise to me, and when he gets around to keeping it, it comes out of our budget. Now there were nearly three months between the election and the Inauguration, and over three months since, so clearly when the President gets around to keeping his promise, it also comes out of our budget!
Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. a Lament in Holy Scripture