by Micah Tillman

Obama’s career in public service makes a lot of sense. It’s goal has always been singular and noble: changing Chicago’s South Side for the better.

In 1988 Obama realized the fix would require Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor’s approach, however. After three years as a community organizer, he decided that real change was impossible without more power.^*

Working under the law wasn’t the solution. So he decided to study law. Then teach it.

Then practice it.

But that wasn’t enough. It lasted for six years, but he still couldn’t make the changes Chicago’s South Side needed.

So he decided to start making law.

Surely the State Legislature would have enough power to effect change. At last Obama could finish what he started as a community organizer a decade before.

But it was an illusion. An illusion that only lasted two years.

Only the power of national law could do what he had once tried to accomplish at the grassroots level.

He decided to run for Congress.

He failed.

But after another two years he decided to try again. And this time he was going all the way to the top. Past the House and into the Senate.

Surely from there he would finally have to power to change Chicago’s South Side.

How long that illusion lasted is debatable. But it wasn’t long.

Twenty-five months after being sworn in as a Senator, he announced what the rest of us already suspected.

He needed presidential power to make the changes he wanted.

By now Obama should have realized that Tim Taylor’s motto is not the solution. Eventually he should have seen that doing the same thing over and over gets you the same results.

Only insane people think otherwise, right? And Obama isn’t insane.

But getting more power never enabled him to do what needed to be done. More power never brought real change.

Yet if more of us would only believe. If he could only get more people to believe with him. He needed their support if he was going to be able to carry on.

After failing again and again, he either had to give up or develop a nationwide support network.

If he could convince America to believe, perhaps he could still believe that Chicago’s South Side could be changed.

But eventually getting America to believe stopped being enough. He had to get the world to believe with him too.

After looking at his career, however, who would conclude that presidential power will be enough? Who would believe that Obama will finally be able to achieve change?

He’s already found it necessary to turn to the world for support. How long before he decides he needs more than their support? How long till he sees the need for their collective power to fix Chicago’s South Side?

I give him two years in the White House before he starts campaigning for UN Secretary-General.

Byron York writes:

When he left for law school, Obama wondered what he had accomplished as an organizer. He certainly had some achievements, but he did not — perhaps could not — concede that there might be something wrong with his approach to Chicago’s problems. Instead of questioning his own premises, he concluded that he simply needed more power to get the job done. So he made plans to run for political office. And in each successive office, he has concluded that he did not have enough power to get the job done, so now he is running for the most powerful office in the land.

And what if he gets it? He’ll be the biggest, strongest organizer in the world. He’ll dazzle the country with his message of hope and possibility. But we shouldn’t expect much to actually get done.

So he’ll have to turn to the UN. But after two years as UN Chief, Obama will realize that even UN power can’t make Chicago’s South Side change.

With his belief in change on the verge of final collapse — even with the entire world behind him — where will he turn?

Will we make First Contact in time to save him from despair?

Will galactic power finally be enough to finish the good work Obama started 23 years ago?

I think we know the answer to that already.

If it’s change you want, Senator Obama, then there’s got to be another way to get it. Tim Taylor’s isn’t working.

________

^*Byron York’s synopsis of his piece got me thinking about Obama’s ongoing mission back in June. But it was only as I was wrapping up the current essay that I actually read Mr. York’s conclusion. Clearly, his final two paragraphs — quoted above — beat me to the punch by a good bit. My thanks to Mr. York for the initial inspiration and ultimate confirmation; and my apologies for sounding like a parrot. It wasn’t intentional.

Micah Tillman is a lecturer, kind of like Barack Obama once was.