The most stressed person in the world at this time

The single most person who, in my view is the most stressed person at this time is the president of the United States, Barack Obama.

The voluminous and extensive press coverage that he has received seems to be capturing his each and every action. We get to hear what he does everyday. It seems media has gone too much ahead to track his each and every action. How can he even think rationally in this scenario? No later than the day after he makes any statement(s), experts analyse and critically assess his statement on popular televisions. He receives feedbacks and criticisms for his every action. Doesn't he get confused with whether to go forward or pause to comment on the criticisms and answer to his countrymen, who have casted their votes and showed faith in him. Doesn't he have a responsiblity of keeping them informed and clear any doubts they have and instill the faith and hope of change?

The decisions that President Obama seems to be taking must be carefully and critically assessed decisions. The decisions seem to be hard and tough. To stand against the CEOs of the big business firms and organizations is not something that we see politicians doing. It means curtailing of political funding for elections and it has wide reaching ramifications. In this light, I applaud Obama's decision to put restrictions on the privileges and salaries of the firms that are demanding governmnental help and money for bail-out.

In these tough times, he is making tough decisions and is proving his capability. I admire him.

A critique of his Inaugral Speech

President Barack Obama lived up to the expectations of Americans by delivering a historic inauguration speech that covered all fields ranging from recession to terrorism. He instilled Americans with hope and reminded them that this is just the beginning of change. He acknowledged that the task before him is monumental and changes would not happen overnight, and so people should be patient and have hope over fear. He was honest to admit that American economy is in recession and explained the current situations to his countrymen without hiding or distorting any details.

But a technical error in the inauguration speech was totally unexpected. President Obama said that 44 Americans have now taken the oath of office whereas only 43 Americans have taken the oath of office. Cleveland took the oath of office twice. I also noticed hypocrisy in one of his statements. He acknowledged that America is a country of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and non-believers, yet he mentioned that equality is God’s gift and made comments such as “God bless America”. Who is to bless non-believers then? The inauguration was marked by Christian prayer named “Thy Kingdom come…” which indicates that America is not secular or that it favors one religion over another.

President Obama made promises to improve health, security, economic and energy sectors. He talked about having big plans but did not give sufficient details about them to be deemed credible or possible.  This inauguration speech was not really special than other speeches that he delivered during elections. Usually, presidential inauguration speeches have been noted for their unusually inspiring one or more quotes. I did not notice any significantly inspiring one-liner or quote in his speech. Nonetheless, his speech was historic and was received positively by the largest percentage of Americans ever. Unlike erstwhile President Bush, he appealed to the Muslim community and expressed his desire to work together for a mutual understanding. He also gave hope to poor Americans unlike Bush, by saying that “a nation cannot prosper if it only favors prosperous”. In my view, he delivered just the kind of speech that Americans expected.