An article in today’s New York Times begins:
“Under pressure to do more to confront the Ebola outbreak sweeping across West Africa, President Obama on Tuesday is to announce…”
Does it seem to you, as it does to me, that President Obama has been under pressure in all sorts of ways lately? I decided to ask Google.
March 3, 2014: “Obama under pressure to take strong stand against Russia” (AM Australia)
April 18, 2014: “Obama is under pressure to make a decision on the future of the [Keystone] pipeline during his second term” (KPCC News)
May 21, 2014: “Under pressure to respond, Obama addresses VA hospital scandal” (CBS News)
June 17, 2014: “Obama Under Pressure to Act Fast in Iraq” (ABC News)
July 3, 2014: “Obama under pressure to visit U.S. – Mexico border” (AP)
August 18, 2014: “President Barack Obama is under increasing pressure to speak out more forcefully on the growing unrest in Ferguson…” (ABC News – Denver)
August 22, 2014: “Obama under pressure to expand strikes on ISIS into Syria” (Fox News Carolina)
August 31, 2014: “Obama under pressure to delay immigration action until after midterms” (Fox News)
September 13, 2014: “Obama Under Pressure To Include Boko Haram In War Against ISIS” (The Guardian)
Do we really have a reluctant leader — as David Brooks recently wrote — who must be pressured into action? Or is all this so-called pressure simply ginned up by the news media to create a sense of drama? Barack Obama could tell us, but we will probably have to wait for his memoir to find out. I’m sure he will be pressured to write one.
Hey, remember when our project team went to Canada and tested the mixpoint? And how we had to label all the crud-layered pipes that were there so we knew how to reconnect everything when we were done with our tests? And then how I had to ask the operator to dump our demo batch of motion-picture emulsion in the middle of the make ($10,000 worth of silver down the drain!) because I made a mistake writing the formula?
Hey, remember when we were in my dorm room on Rob’s 21st birthday? And somehow you came up with a chord progression on your guitar, and Rob improvised lyrics for it and turned it into the “Tuna Fish Sandwich” song? And then how, weeks later, you and I recorded it as a guitar duo, with words to be added at some point, but they never were?
Hey, remember when we were all swinging on that really-long swing your dad built in your back yard? And we would pump our legs to go higher and higher, and then when we got to the very top of the arc, we would let go of the swing and make up something to yell out like “Superman!” or “Birdie Tweet Tweet” as we flew through the air on our way to the ground? And how your next-door neighbor Kirk Graham broke his arm doing this with us?
Hey, remember when we were making crank phone calls on the pink phone in my sister’s bedroom? And we were taping all the calls on your tape recorder so we could play them back and laugh? And how, on one call, we told one woman she was an “old biddy lady” as we giggled away? And then, how we got really scared when we couldn’t hang up! Well, we tried to hang up but every time we picked up the phone again, she was still on the line! And how we realized we had to tell her we were sorry so she didn’t report us and get us into trouble? And then, how relieved we were when she finally hung up! And then we made more calls!
Remember? I do.