Building a Reputation

So Barack Obama finally took office yesterday after a campaign and electoral process that received far more media coverage in the United Kingdom than any other I can remember. I have become hooked on James Naughtie's stateside dispatches for the Today programme, with his dulcet scottish tones enlightening us about the mood of the American people in these historic times. There's a little something that doesn't quite sit right on this side of the pond, however. It's a little thing and I've tried to escape it, but I can't quite forget that stirring speech Obama gave on the campaign trail where he repeated that natty slogan "Yes we can!"
An erudite political communicator he may be, but the new President borrowed a phrase made famous by Bob the Builder. Forget Joe the Plumber - it looks like Obama thinks he can fix it for us all.

Good for him for taking a positive attitude, but in these almost drunkenly optimistic times I am reminded of my mother's view of the slightly rotund chap in the yellow hat who has conversations with his tools (that would be Bob, not Barack, just to make things clear). Mother is now sixty five and works in a school for kids with special needs. She's a patient teaching assistant who thinks the world of the kids she works with and really wants the best for them. However, after a messy divorce and several other hard knocks in life she doesn't really tend towards being a glass half full person. Bob, with his assured attitude, is just not sensible. So when her class starts up with a resounding chorus of "Bob the Builder, can we fix it?" She doesn't reply Obama-style with a forthright "Yes we can!" Can we fix it mother? "Well, we hope so," she says.
So President Obama, we all hope so too.