Obama and expectations

Tuesday marks the inauguration of President Barack Obama, I must say I am quite excited about this, and I think it marks the end of the frankly ridiculous 2-term reign of George W. Bush. However I think that the expectations that come with the Obama administration may prove to be troublesome

I have long been a believer that expectation management is extremely important, the Obama campaign was undoubtedly successful but has whipped the US population, and the majority of the world into a complete Obama-frenzy, with expectations of his performance in office being sky high.

Barack Obama is inheriting a number of extremely challenging issues, most of which are unlikely to be solved in the first year or two. I believe Obama is going to do a great job, and will probably find it easy to do as well as his predecessor, however this will not be good enough, if Obama does not live up to the world-changing expectations set out by his campaign and supporters, he may be remembered as the President who could only talk the talk.

Congrats to Mr. Obama, and good luck, you'll need it...

Media and definitions

Now don't get me wrong I am happy that the US election panned out as it did, I was very much an Obama man. However one thing I cant get behind is the general media's attitude that the election of an African American president shows that the US has turned a major corner.

Pundits will often cite the "crushing", "landslide" victory that Obama enjoyed once the votes had been counted, and I suppose the electoral college system in the US goes a long way to make the vote often appear more one-sided that in it should. Obama received 53(ish)% percent of the overall vote, now I dont know how the average person would define a landslide, but for me that just doesn't cut the mustard.

Almost half of the US voting population do not want to see Mr. Obama in the Whitehouse, and these nice folk will be gunning for him (hopefully not in the literal sense, but I wouldn't doubt it) for the entire duration of his time as the "Commander in chief".

Say it all you like but 53% does not a landslide make... thats all I have to say about that