This might be the strangest post I will ever write here and I know with a great amount of certainty that my line of thought is not in lock and step with most Rightists. I even wonder if my colleagues here at the WE might think I am off my rocker. Thankfully, all of us here appreciate free thought whether it is right or wrong.

For the past two and half years I have criticized the practices and conduct of the liberal establishment and the presidency of Barack Obama. Both have been laced with ineptitude, cronyism, shallowness, hypocrisy, sophomoric arrogance, ambivalence, and any other negative adjective which comes to mind. Furthermore, there has been little to nothing with which I have agreed with the President on and my opinion of his leadership was rather low…until today.

The now supposedly iconic picture of the President in the Situation Room with his staff and himself watching the video feed of naval commandos assaulting bin Laden’s compound was where I first noticed a slight difference in his bearing. He had the look of a man who was staring cold hard reality in the face and it was causing him to profoundly contemplate the gravity of the situation and the well-being of the men charged with carrying out his orders.

The next noticeable shift was his speech at Fort Campbell yesterday. President Obama seemed comfortable while speaking to the all military crowd and actually enjoying doing it. But above all else he appeared humbled by their efforts and grateful for their presence, just beaming with pride for them. At another point in his speech was the tone he struck concerning America and her people. Here is an excerpt from the end of his speech courtesy of the Wall Street Journal.

[...]And for her and for all of us, this week has been a reminder of what we’re about as a people. It’s easy to forget sometimes, especially in times of hardship, times of uncertainty. We’re coming out of the worst recession since the Great Depression; haven’t fully recovered from that. We’ve made enormous sacrifices in two wars. But the essence of America — the values that have defined us for more than 200 years — they don’t just endure; they are stronger than ever.

We’re still the America that does the hard things, that does the great things. We’re the nation that always dared to dream. We’re the nation that’s willing to take risks — revolutionaries breaking free from an empire; pioneers heading West to settle new frontiers; innovators building railways and laying the highways and putting a man on the surface of the moon.

We are the nation — and you’re the Division — that parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day, freeing a continent, liberating concentration camps. We’re the nation that, all those years ago, sent your Division to a high school in Arkansas so that nine black students could get an education. That was you. Because we believed that all men are created equal; that everyone deserves a chance to realize their God-given potential.

We’re the nation that has faced tough times before — tougher times than these. But when our Union frayed, when the Depression came, when our harbor was bombed, when our country was attacked on that September day, when disaster strikes like that tornado that just ripped through this region, we do not falter. We don’t turn back. We pick ourselves up and we get on with the hard task of keeping our country strong and safe.

See, there’s nothing we can’t do together, 101st, when we remember who we are, at that is the United States of America. (Applause.) When we remember that, no problem is too hard and no challenge is too great.

And that is why I am so confident that, with your brave service, America’s greatest days are still to come. (Applause.)

God bless you. God bless the 101st. And God bless the United States of America. (Applause.)

There were still elements of Teleprompter Barry with a few “I dids…” and the such thrown in there, but the context of most of this speech as you might be able to detect had a different vibe to it. Nevertheless, old habits sometimes die really hard.

Truthfully though, if you were to call me blind, a fool, or say I was reaching there isn’t much I can say to refute you, nor would I even try. You could make the accusation that I dropped my innate skepticism in lieu of bin Laden’s death because of what it means for me, thus allowing me to become susceptible to hopium. Maybe when nobody was looking the President got some really great handlers who are master spin artists and media manipulators extraordinaire and I bit hook, line, and sinker. Maybe reading President Reagan’s biography over his holiday influenced President Obama or he figured out how to tap into Reagan’s style and use it for personal gain and power. I dunno’.

All of this had a different feel than the usual Campaigner and Chief that we are all so used to and I wanted to highlight that fact. Obama seemed to have a revelation that his choice of employment requires him to be more than manufactured platitudes or an empty suit. He seems to finally understand the fact  that he is the President of the United States of America. As any reasoned person knows our country is sick and anemically recovering. If this continues for to much longer, the scars may be too much to for us to bear. America is in desperate need for someone to set the tone of leadership, not cheap political parlor tricks. As I admitted already,  I could be wrong but I am left wonder if all of this bin Laden business has made these facts resonate with President Obama. He finally might be grasping the essence of America and what she needs to continue.

We shall see.