MY GREATEST PLACE - PART 3

“A whole new world
That's where we'll be
A thrilling chase
A wondrous place
For you and me”

This last place is really going to throw a curveball at you. In October 1^st, 1971 a dream was realized and the gates were open. This dream essentially became the development of a city and really an empire. A well known animator with big dreams saw an opportunity to purchase 27,000 acres of swamp land 20 miles southwest of the city of Orlando. That’s over 42 square miles. To put that land acquisition in perspective, its half the size of the island of Honolulu, nearly the size of the city of San Francisco and double the size of the island of Manhattan. It was some serious land purchasing.

This animator wanted to build a park that would raise the bar on a previous project he began in Anaheim, California. The animator said, “There's enough land here to hold all the ideas and plans we can possibly imagine.” That animator was Walt Disney and this land became his world.

For anyone who has NOT been to Disneyworld, this blog will seem trite and inane. To visit this wonderland will open your eyes to amazement and bewilderment. To me it’s a fascinating study on how one man can stare at 27,000 acres and vision its eventual mystique. Walt Disney dropped nearly 400 million dollars on the land and subsequent development. His hope was that it would be a worthy investment. In a business sense, Walt Disney World now has a net worth of $54 billion today. So as Howie Mandel would say, Disney “made a great deal.”

I have travelled to Disney World a total of 7 times in my lifetime. I’ve realized that people my age like to claim passion to certain musicians by counting how many times they saw them in concert. My favorite performers are Ben Folds and Meatloaf. Together I have seen them 6 times. Disney has become more than a passion to me. It’s been my escape from the trivial nuances of everyday life.

Disneyworld now consists of 4 major parks, each with its unique thematic explorations. The pseudo city also contains over 24 on site hotels, a downtown nightclub and 2 major waterparks. My first trip there was in 1983. I was just shy of my 5^th birthday when mom and dad took us. At the time, Disney had two theme parks, Magic Kingdom and Epcot. In 1991, my family went once again. This time, another park, MGM Studios (Now called Hollywood Studios) existed. Then in 1994 and 1996, I went to Disney World as part of my high schools music program. In 2005, I went with my girlfriend (now wife) and experienced the 4^th major park, Animal Kingdom. In 2007, I returned to Disney with my then fiancée (now wife) and our friends, Seth and Lauren Pollock. My most recent trip was in 2009 with my NOW wife.

Each trip added new experiences and new appreciations. To illustrate this aforementioned sentence, I will admit that Disney World was not impressive to me until trip number 5. At that point of my life it had been 9 years in between trips and I didn’t feel like I was really missing out on anything. It was my first vacation with Pamela and I settled on Disney as a destination out of not ruffling the early dating feathers. It’s really hard to describe the euphoria of the Disney experience but I will now attempt to paint the picture.

When you get off the plane in Orlando, you are greeted by Cast Members who orderly get you into your Magical Express Bus. This is when the true Disney journey begins. No need to pick up luggage. They have people there to do that for you. As you board the bus, there is a fun and entertaining video that explains everything you need to know about your vacation. It includes all the characters we’re familiar with. This trip is like a cheap drug that somehow messes with your head and instead fills it the thoughts of “who cares about what’s happening at home.” The bus takes you to your themed resort and your luggage comes shortly thereafter. Now it’s time to explore.

Every vacationer is different. I believe the biggest misperception is that Disney is mainly for children. I would say that Disney is for every generation but I’d go a step further and say that’s even better for couples. As cliché as it may sound, the reality is Disney brings out the kid out of all of us. I dare you to bring a, dopey, sleepy or bashful individual and watch turn Happy.

I recognize this blog comes across as an advertisement but I don’t work for Disney nor do I have any stock in Disney. I just respect and admire their ability to create an environment that turns ordinary folks into starry-eyed children. Each Disney-goer has personal preferences on hotels, parks and attractions that they enjoy. Lately we’ve stayed in moderate resorts and enjoy experiencing each of the 4 main parks. If time allows, we’ll hit up a waterpark too. Each park takes the mind into a world of fantasy and imagination. The logistics of how the parks are laid out are a blog within themselves. There are private tunnels, backlots and underground cities under the parks, which the 66,000 Cast Members (employees) utilize to get around. Every attraction has its own theme with each cast member having specific costumes. You feel like its Halloween and instead of candy you are treated to various rides, attractions and shows.

The Magic Kingdom is an American treasure, with the Cinderella castle as its centerpiece. The castle is 199 feet tall (Anything taller would require FAA to insert a beacon light for planes, which would have ruined the Disney effect.). The castle was carefully constructed with forced perspective to make the castle seem taller then 199 feet. Forced perspective is a technique that employs an optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. The castle centerpiece spokes out into various park subcategories. Each having attractions that fit into that category. Frontierland, having Wild West/ Country attractions. Fantasyland, having Disney character rides, Tomorrowland, having futuristic attractions..

Epcot, which stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, was to be the innovations of future discoveries. With loads on hands on educational activities, you could classify this as the worlds most innovative science theme park. It encompasses 600 Cast Members alone maintaining the horticulture and organic wings of the Disney majesty. The parks centerpiece is a globe, which is affectionately known as the giant golf ball. It has 11,324 sides and it doubles as a futuristic ride called, Spaceship Earth. The charm of Epcot is that its two parks in one. After visiting the various scientific shows and attractions, you can walk to the other side of the park and visit 11 different countries. Each country sporting buildings and events reflecting that respective culture. It is an absolutely insane feeling to spend 2-3 hours and literally feel that you’ve been to 11 different countries. Some of these countries having rides and dazzling restaurants to boot.

Hollywood Studios (formerly known as MGM) helps you to recreate movie magic. Most of the rides and events are somehow associated with the great movies and shows of the time. Including a new area called Pixar studios. The last major park in Animal Kingdom. The name says it all and one its charms are the real life animals that can be seen on a realistic Safari adventure.

To compact the magic of these parks in these last few paragraphs doesn’t do it justice. Disney is inclusive in many aspects. Besides the obvious one that you can prepay for everything and rarely have to pull your wallet out during the entire trip. The hotels, the meals and the ticket admissions can be purchased together. Souvenirs are sold separate. But the cleverness is that Disney finds ways to cultivate all audiences. They are infant friendly, handicap friendly and overall so darn friendly to everyone. You can’t go anywhere in those 27,000 acres without a cast member wishing you a magical day. No one seems grumpy (except the dwarf) and everyone is cheerful.

It’s more than a vacation. You completely forget about bills and in-laws. Unless you bring your in-laws and owe them money. I put Disney is one of my favorite places for several reasons. Firstly, they are always reinventing themselves and adding new features to their parks. Right when I believe they can’t exceed my expectations, they always find new ways to recapture my imagination. Secondly, I value an American institutions that employ so many people and spends over 1.6 billion dollars on salary and payroll. Thirdly, I love innovation. Whether it’s the monorail that creates a mode of transportation between 3 resorts and 2 parks or whether it creates a night time area (Downtown Disney) to enjoy the nightlife of Florida.

Over 17 million people visit Magic Kingdom alone each year. Add another 30 million visitors if you include the other 3 major parks and tack on another 5 million to include the other attractions in the Disney area. Lets face it, Disney is soaking in money but they also preach the voices of social responsibility, green technology, enticing volunteerism and promoting family fun. Its where kids and be kids and parents can be kids. It’s where people bond, relationships are formed and magic really does come to life. It puts me into a frame of mind, which can not be replicated or imitated anywhere else in the world. It is my own planet where dreams can come true. This is why DisneyWorld is part of my 3 greatest places in life.

***A friend of mine said I should follow-up my three greatest places with my 3 least favorite places. I did think long and hard about this kind of blog and realized that I didn't want depress the readers or myself by going into the details. So to spare the negativity, I'll simply list the 3 least favorite places in my life...

1. Working in the Social Security Administration building is far away number 1 on this list.

2. My awful 4 years of high school is an easy number two.

3. Any foot doctor getting my ingrown toe nail removed is a solid number 3.

MY GREATEST PLACES - Part 2

“Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life, I'll love you more”

What’s so great about Altoona? These words were asked of me by a friend when I told him where I was attending college in the fall of 1996. I can understand his thought process. He was headed to USC after a tremendous academic high school career. I was headed to the only place that would take me after the four most miserable years of my life that I’d really rather forget.

Let’s not make any bones about it. I hated high school. I felt like an outcast, I couldn’t stand my regimented academic schedule, I had zero luck with the ladies and I had enough acne on my face to publish a connect the dots travel book. I should also mention that I was battling depression and I really felt like my life was headed in the wrong direction. So even though Penn State Altoona was far colder than the University of Southern California, it was a welcome change in refocusing my life.

In truth, the expectations were low from the minute I stepped on campus. My parents were already gearing for my imminent return home for semester #2 and plan “B” for community college was the likely next destination. My personal expectations were to simply not be home by semester # 2. I’m not really sure what happened to me that 1^st semester but I felt the tides of life changing in my favor. I don’t want to seem to cliché and say my experiences at Penn State Altoona changed my life, but in reality they really did. The first few days seemed to tempt my evil-doings. I was in an off campus apartment and almost every night there was binge drinking and pot smoking all around me. This is nothing different than any other college campus around America, except I was already in the mindset that I was doomed for academic failure, the party scene just seemed to be a natural place for me to gravitate. I admit that I did partake in some early beer ponging and keg standing but when it came to my studies I really put things into gear.

Penn State Altoona is as a small satellite campus. When I began, the school had around 3000 undergraduate students. It was a 45-minute ride to the main campus, which had around 45,000 students at the time. The school would never come out and directly say this but Penn State Altoona was really the school you go to, if you were not good enough to make the cut for the main campus. The perception was that PSU Altoona was everyone’s fall back plan. For me, it was the only plan. PSU Altoona is “167.2 acres with more than 20 buildings centered around a pond, including a student union, athletic complex with indoor pool, fitness loft and weight room; computer center; library; state-of-the-art science and engineering labs; theater; art and music studios.” In truth it offered as much as any small liberal arts school around the country with one extra benefit, do well here and they’ll graduate you to the main campus. It was the training wheels of college in most cases.

To say that my first semester was a success would be an understatement. After nearly failing out of high school, I began my first semester by earning a 3.13 GPA. I followed that semester with a 3.87 and I will add that I earned a 3.0 or higher in 8 out of my 9 semesters of undergraduate studies and a 3.30 or better in my 6 semesters of graduate studies but I digress. I don’t even think my academic success was the true mark that Penn State Altoona had on my life.

When I proclaim the school saved my life, it’s really because the school changed my life. It was the first time that I felt liberated from the societal pressures that I felt at home. It was the first time that I felt like I made my parents proud and it was the place where I learned to cultivate my sense of truth and empowerment. I was able to choose educational courses that were more suited to my interests as opposed to high school where courses were assigned based on the schools desired learning paradigm. I will also say that my acne cleared up while in college, which subsequently boosted my self-esteem and suspended my lingering effects of depression. I won’t say that Altoona changed my luck with the ladies. I think those days came along around somewhere in 1998 but Altoona certainly gave me the confidence to know that with hard work, discipline and a bit of independence, I could make responsible choices and change the trajectory of my life.

If my freshmen year set the precedence for this transformation then my sophomore year clearly defined it. It was the fall of 1997 and I began the semester in an on-campus suite. The demand for enrolling at PSU Altoona was becoming evident as new residences halls were being erect. I shared a 2-bedroom suite with two strangers from Central Pennsylvania and a guy from upstate New York, whom I had befriended my freshman year. His name was Brian “Big Bri” Burdick and to this day, I associate him with my good experiences in Altoona because he was probably one of the best roommates a guy could ever hope for in college. Big Bri weighed in at about 250 pounds and was 6 feet 4 inches high. He also played the clarinet. He was a very easy guy to get a long with and we ended up taking a lot of similar classes together. He was well-respected and well-liked and made college enjoyable for me.

One day in late 2007, I decided to audition for the campus production of “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up.” If Altoona was my salvation then I would confidently say that this show would prove to be the catalyst that propelled that salvation. It is important to note that despite my early love of theater, I was never cast into any shows in high school. In a sad confession, this was the rudimentary issues behind my self-esteem and depression issues. When I walked on to that stage to audition at PSU Altoona, I looked directly into the eyes of that director and knew that she believed in me more than any one person in my life at the time. That director, Nona Gerard, cast me in a relatively big role and assured me that I was “ready for the challenge.” It should be recognized that this musical was about children growing up in catholic school and often alluded to the presence of patron saints. To this day, I claim that Nona Gerard was my Saint Valentine because the love, confidence and reassurance she showed me was something that no teachers ever gave me in high school.

I recognize that being in a show seems very trivial to the common person but for the 4-months of rehearsing and 2 straight weeks of performing, I was a rock star and my life was changing every day. I remember that my 2^nd to last performance was viewed by 16 family members and friends who caravanned the 3.5 hours from the Philadelphia area to see me. There were my parents, who were front and center. Seeing me succeed in the show was just the icing on the cake to my success with my studies. The show also developed lifelong bonds with some of the cast members. The lead character was played by Alex Abrahantes. Because Altoona was a small campus everyone knew him because of his distinctive WWF jacket that he wore proudly around campus. Now he and I were quickly becoming friends. Then there was a cast member named Tressa Assid, who got a late start on her campus preparations and got an interesting college roommate. She lived with a little old lady named Gerti, who rented Tressa a room for the semester. Then there was Amanda Hecht, who everyone recognized as the true talent destined for show biz. Amanda had this warm and sarcastic personality. She always seemed to be the voice of reason in the group. “Big Bri” got involved in stage crew and part of that commitment was he had to dress like a nun. Boy, how I wish I could find a picture of that somewhere. Together, we all formed a lame friendship club called, “The Crotch Chop Club.” The origin is a story for another time. The bottom line is that I had friends, which was a nice thing to have in life. It’s been 12-years since the show but I can remember every detail of that time in my life. I often wish I can put the memories in a bottle and open them up when reflecting on the moments of my life.

I met several other people in the show. There was a guy named Eugene Kim, who lived near me at home and I met a lovely local girl named Lauren Anastasi, who was our female lead in the show. Laurens father also joined the cast in a pretty significant role. Her dad, John was a nationally recognized Thoracic Surgeon at the local hospital. He also gave the cast a few things we’d never forget.

A. An incredibly authentic and terrific performance

B. The donation of renting the body mics for the show

C. The unique opportunity to watch him perform an open heart surgery.

Yes, you read it correctly. After the show ended, I, along with many of us in the cast, went to the hospital and watched him perform an open heart surgery. I’m not talking about watching it from an observation booth or from closed circuit television. I was literally 12-18 inches away from a human heart. It was one of the most remarkable things I have ever witnessed in my life.

Many of you have made it to this point of my blog and are probably saying to yourself “Ok, I get it, you enjoyed college. What’s the big deal?” The big deal is that in order for my life to change, I needed to be at that particular school at that particular time of my life. Maybe it was fate but I needed Altoona, I needed Professor Gerard’s faith, I needed those friendships and I needed to witness an open heart surgery at Altoona Regional Health System to put perspective into my life. It’s the place that where my greatest memories were made and my life was saved.

THE GREATEST PLACES IN MY LIFE - PART 1

“You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So...get on your way!”

-Dr. Seuss

The other night I was lying in bed and reflecting on the wonderful places that I have visited in my life. I feel like I have experienced so many great places my 11,000 + days of living. There are the obvious touristy choices like whitewater rafting in Costa Rica, cave diving in Belize, staring at the Mona Lisa in Paris, walking thru the British Parliament in London, standing on the beach in Israel to watch the Mediterranean equinox, walking in Anne Franks attic in Amsterdam or perhaps climbing Arthurs Seat in Scotland. When it comes to the places and people that have shaped my life, these have all been great ventures yet none break into my top 3 places.

I hope you spend the next few days with me in my 3 part essay series, “The three greatest places in my world.” Perhaps these places are meaningful to you as well or perhaps my blog will help you to rediscover your own great places in life. I think some of my choices may surprise you.

PART 1 –

“Love will pervade us till death separate us we're friends, friends, friends."

This is not my wedding vow but rather a song that I’ve chanted around 600 times over a 13 year period of time. It’s a song that has great meaning because as sappy as it may sound, the words were always reflective of how I felt then and today. From 1988-2000, I spent my summers at an overnight camp in the Pocono Mountains called Golden Slipper. I recognize that every person has their own love affair about the camp they grew up attending. This place became more than a home; it became a fixture of my life.

My experiences were special because of the unique environment surrounding the camp. It was over 100 acres of serene woods and the ever presence of chirping crickets. In the middle of this wildness laid a spirit and a cause so ingrained in the soul that it was never spoken out loud but always felt by those who’ve attended. There were things that always existed to make the camp a fully functional. There were sporting activities, drama club, computers, bikes, a mile long lake, swimming, comfortable living quarters and 3 meals a day. It is a million dollar annual operation that exists and runs primarily because of the kind donations of a bunch of well-to-do philanthropists 90 miles away in the Philadelphia region.

The camp is not a prototypical camp where rich parents send their kids to learn how to swing a tennis racquet, although Golden Slipper did manage to do that anyway. It wasn’t a camp that existed to line the pockets of any one particular camp owner. This camp exists purely on a breakeven philosophy. Most of the campers come from moderate to low economic upbringings. Many have a single parent and in some cases, no parents at all. To be a camper at Golden Slipper it was both a pleasure and an honor that was never taken for granted. We all knew what we had and we recognize that in reality, our camp had more amenities and activities then the camps whose parents paid a lot more money.

I began as a nine year-old camper. My parent’s main motivation was to ship me, my brother and sister off for one summer because they needed to concentrate on moving to our next family home. Golden Slipper was the cheapest and logical option but they didn’t account for the profound effect that camp would take in my personal life. This place taught me things about myself that I didn’t even know existed. I began to feel comfortable in my own skin, being goofy without being judged, learning to live on my own without the need for parental help and developing a network of friends that still exist today.

In 1988, my first year of camp, I had two counselors who looked over me and saw my well-being. At the time they were 19 and 20 years old respectively. Now I’m 31. They are 41 and 42 years old and are still a big part of my life. When I was in my 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th years of camp I became friendly with guys and girls who have now become my closest friends. Some of them were groomsmen at my wedding. All of whom are a quick phone call away for me. These are all men & women who have shaped my life and defined who I am today.

This camp had character and characters. There was the scary pool guy with the deep booming voice, who would serenade us at night time with his acoustic guitar. There was the woman in the office, who despite being confined to a wheelchair, still managed to bring us a spiritual compass to our camp experience. There was the curmudgeon camp director, who beneath his beard and tough exterior was a boy living out his own camping fantasy. He would sometimes crack a reassuring smile while still cracking his whip in the everyday operations of the camp. There was also the Assistant Director and his Jane-of-all-Trades wife, together they became more then camp administrators but ultimately took the role of camp parents to all of us.

Then there was a man named Ronnie. I feature him in this blog because he was one of the most interesting people I have ever met in my entire life. He was a camp lifer. He performed nearly every role in camp in his 30 + years there. He was a counselor, ran the pool, served as administrative support, worked in the infirmary and ultimately felt most comfortable as the camp driver. In truth the man had more medical issues then can ever be told in a full season of “Greys Anatomy” but he also seemed like the Teflon man as he never let much take his focus off his love of camp. He had an unusual sense of fashion with his ecliptic collection of colorful sunglasses and his shorts that were so short that they came close enough to getting someone kicked out of catholic school.

Both of Ronnie’s children were staples in the camps history. Both of them spending time as campers and counselors, much like the rest of us. It was a family affair for Ronnie and he loved three things in life, camp, his children and aggressive driving. Having road rage and also being the camp driver is what made his character so endearing. Ronnie was the type of man who would do anything for anybody without ever seeking anything in return. I couldn’t tell you how much pay he earned from working in camp but you kind of understood that he’d do it for free if he had too.

Many of us got our cue from Ronnie. He was a mythological camp hero whom we all admired as a camper and as we all grew older together, we admired him even more as a friend. In the offseason, we’d invite him to dinner and to functions. We were a band of brothers bonded by the love of camp. We were from different generations. We were in our 20’s and he was our token 50-some. He even helped me move into my apartment by driving the Uhaul truck. In June of 2005, I got a call from one of my closest camp friends. That friend was the kind of person who is even-keeled and never gets emotional about anything. Yet on this day in June, his voice trembled. He began to weep and uttered the words that I still can’t comprehend today “Ronnie has died.” What? The ageless man who always bounced back from medical issues is gone too soon? Ronnie had died in his sleep after going home for a doctor’s appointment.

To this day, I can’t tell you that the three saddest days in my life were the funerals of my grandmother, my grandfather and Ronnie Asherman.

Ronnie symbolized something far deeper then a man who drove a van for a camp. Ronnie symbolized the kind of love, passion and gratitude for the things Golden Slipper has provided in my own life. The memories included the tranquil nights of walking through the lake path, camping out under the stars, camp color war (which we call The Olympics), learning silly songs that stick out in my mind today. I also remember the campers that I was a counselor for when they were 7 years-old, who are now in their 20’s. It’s the cyclical world of Golden Slipper Camp, a place that has taught me so much more than I’ll ever know. It’s impossible to describe it to anyone who hasn’t experienced it themselves but also impossible to live your life without ever thinking about it. If you take my trip to see the Mona Lisa, my cave diving trip in Central America and my Mediterranean sunset equinox and put them all together, it would never match what 13 summers of Golden Slipper Overnight Camp did for my life

OBAMA: THE FIRST 365 DAYS

This is my second official post about politics. I think it’s important for me to express my feelings on Obamas first year. Even though I consider myself a moderate Democrat, my allegiance will always be as US Citizen first. I was one of the 69 million + Americans who voted for Barack Obama in November, 2008. My vote was decided very early on in the process before McCain even emerged as the Republican and certainly well before his ill-advised selection of Sarah Palin as a running mate. Hek, my vote was decided before Obama even became the Democrats choice.

My early perceptions led me to vote for him for what I classify as minor reasons and major reasons. Before I can evaluate his performance, I must first measure them against my own expectations. The minor reasons for my vote began with Obama being the youngest major candidate for office in 2008. That spoke to my generation and led me to believe that a youthful vigor was imperative to the rigors of the office. I also voted for him because he was an African American. I felt in order for our world to change, our perceptions on how we see the world should change. I also voted for him because he came from a modest upbringing and was the least wealthiest candidate running for office. He talked about things that no other candidates could relate too like owning 1 home, saving for college and paying school loans.

My major motives for casting my vote were his dissention for the Iraqi war and his intention to bring the troops home safely. I also believed in his economic plan to get the economy back on the feet. I liked his plans to reform healthcare and I believed he would use his popularity to restore our diplomacy across the world. Those were the biggest issues for me but his ideas in education reform, nuclear proliferation and energy initiatives were also the icing on the cake.

It’s been 365 days since his inauguration and I’ll start where most of these kind of blogs end. I give the President a C- after year one. The bad news is that it was absolutely impossible for him to match the euphoria of his campaign. The excitement and promises were so extreme that his actual presidency seems anti-climatic.

Let’s review the highlights and lowlights:

FIRST DAYS

All were highlights. He spent his first week overturning George Bushes executive orders. These include fair pay for women, extending healthcare for young children, closing GITMO (thus barring interrogation efforts) and nominating a Latina women to the US Supreme Court. He has also mastered technology better than any other president. Conferences are on you tube.

VETTING

HIGHLIGHT:

In a show of bipartisanship, Obama offers a major cabinet role to Republican Senator Judd Gregg.

LOWLIGHT:

Gregg, who shows lukewarm interest at first turns down the offer as the Republicans learn to spit in Obama’s face. The situation gets worse as several cabinet nominees rescind their offers when news surfaces that they have tax problem. The irony is these positions were for positions directly associated with our national economy. It made me feel that this president is not choosing the right people to lead his cabinet. This continues to be an issue as Tim Geitner, our US Treasury Secretary has been more aggressive about defending his record then about defending his results. He was billed as the savior to our economic woes. He is quickly becoming a caricature of our woes.

THE ECONOMY

LOWLIGHT:

Banks, Housing, Cars, Jobs, Credit Cards. Oh My!! Everyone wants a bailout. After owing more than 2 trillion dollars to China, Obama maxes out with nearly 800 billion dollar TARP (Troubled asset Relief Program) to help stimulate the economy. Apparently the benefactors are using there allocations for handsome bonuses and fancy company retreats. These greedy CEO’s are addicted to money and Obama is an enabler. Its like loaning your best friend $100 so he can snort coke and when you ask for the money back, your coked up friend says I need more money to snort more coke.

HIGHLIGHT:

Many experts believe that the recession is ending. Whether its due to the cyclical forces of the market or to Obama’s TARP is yet to be seen but credit should go to Obama since he is the man in office. Housing is slowly recovering, the stock market has rebounded and people got lots of cash for their clunker cars. In my opinion, job growth will NEVER recover and anyone who was prepared to retire this year now has to work at least another 5 years to recoup those lost funds. Metaphorically speaking, it’s like a fire that destroys your home. We made it out alive but it will take time to rebuild.

DIPLOMACY

HIGHLIGHT:

He won a Nobel Peace Prize. People were outraged because we are in two wars right now. But let’s keep that he voted against the wars as a US Senator, so he doesn’t get my blame for “starting the war.” I can see how bad this may still look though. It’s like Miss America punching another gal in the face and getting the congeniality award. I think this was an award based on hope as opposed to achievement. In his first year of office, Obama has travelled more than any other president before him. Many of these trips dealt with energy summits and economic forums but make no doubt it about it, these trips are designed to repair our global image. It took us 8 years to ruin our image and it may take a few years to regain the respect ad admiration that we enjoyed up until 2000.

LOWLIGHT

More troop deployment to Afghanistan. The president was stuck between a rock and a hard plate. He campaigned for troops to return home. Instead he is resurging and redistributing them to more violent countries. I can’t say I disagree with his reasoning but acknowledging a specific date for withdraw was a bonehead move. All it does is tell the enemy when it’s ok to strike again.

HEALTHCARE

HIGHLIGHT:

Was destined to be the first president since Lyndon Johnson (1965) to pass a major piece of health reform. Without going into great detail, I was not personally in favor of all the components of the bill but I will say that it is absolutely imperative to fixing our nations biggest cause of debt. It also ensures equal health for everyone (i.e. no more pre-exiting health disqualifiers).

LOWLIGHT:

Remember those days when you were in college and you spent all night working on a major research paper. Then there was an electrical storm and all the computers in the library were blown out. Then 10 minutes later the computers go back on and you realize that the auto recovery didn’t save your work thus your entire paper is completely gone? Now imagine you are president Obama and your metaphorical research paper is called “Healthcare Reform.” This is something that you’ve been working on for not just 1 night but for 365 nights. Then an electrical storm comes to strike. That electrical storm is some playgirl state senator named Scott Brown. He has just erased your entire people and you did not autosave it. What a nightmare!!

For every Samoan pirate that Obama had killed by the Navy Seals, for every beer summit and every feel good story about humanity, dignity and hope, we put Obama’s first year of presidency head-to-head with one major issue, Healthcare. I agree that healthcare is a magnanimous issue in our country but by having primetime specials, special news conferences and 1 year’s worth of discussion about this topic, it would not be an understatement that a failure to complete this bill would be a colossal blackeye for his administration. Some will argue that this is exactly what will happen because this new Senator from Massachusetts would cast the 41^st vote against this bill.

My view is that it’s terrible that 1 man (Scott Brown of Massachusetts) prevents 47 million men from receiving healthcare but the reality is this bill took to long to write, explain and comprehend for legislators and public alike. If this bill were as great as its being presented, 1-2 Republicans would have voted for it thus not relying on a liberal state to come through for you and discussion of filibuster is irrelevant. I recognize that Massachusetts is essentially spitting on the grave of Edward Kennedy right now but it shouldn’t have come to this point.

My grade of C- is a gracious one. I was leaning closer to a D+ but if Obama finds a way to sign this piece of legislation even with 59 Senators supporting it then I may increase his grade to an A-. That’s how tragic this piece of legislation is to his lst year’s presidential achievement.

Let me say one other thing. Its is nice to have a guy in office who even in defeat never appears to get rattled or lose control. You get the impression that he actually cares about what he is doing. You may agree or disagree with his policies but you must admire his cerebral approach. He appears to rely on a programmatism as opposed to gut decisions. To me it is evident that he has accomplished more in his first year then Bush did in his 8 years. He still has a long way to go to exceed our expectations but I think he is off to a relatively good start.