Nietzsche is Dead: Child’s question to Obama highlights nation’s hate

Kids say the darndest things.

President Obama found himself facing the raised hand of 9-year-old Terrence Scott, of Pauline, La., in a town-hall style meeting Thursday during his highly publicized visit to New Orleans.

Answering questions from a kid is risky: Though a picture of the president talking one-on-one with a child is always a good photo-op, you can never control what they're going to say.

Children don't know the rules. They don't know what will look good on cameras, they don't know about the after-speech breakdown in a flurry of punditry and they don't know what carefully constructed phrasing will earn their political allies the most points.

They don't have political allies. They don't see things in terms of red or blue, Democrat or Republican. And they certainly don't know how their words will affect the balance of power.

So when Obama handed this 9-year-old his microphone in front of hundreds of people and the hungry maw of news cameras, he was going out on a limb.

"I have to say, why people hate you and, and why, they supposed to love you and — God is love," the boy stammered nervously.

The audience laughed like the kid was sitting across from Bill Cosby. It was adorable — Obama has spent the last quarter of the year fighting grueling political battles and suffering an unparalleled amount of hatred. And now he was facing this little clueless kid, who was telling the president of the United States he just didn't understand why his job had to be so hard.

But Terrence's question is far more than cute, humorous irony — it cuts to the blackened, poisoned heart of our political culture.

Terrence's question may have gained only minimal coverage as an adorable anecdote, but it is perhaps the most insightful political inquiry uttered by any American in recent memory.

It's more revealing than the dogmatic demands of Sean Hannity or the incendiary
hypothetical hypocrisy of Glenn Beck. It's more relevant than the insipid pandering of Keith
Olberman or the bombastically empty "holding accountable" by Lou Dobbs.

It's certainly far more penetrating a question than anything I've ever asked, written or even thought.

And it's even phrased exactly the way it should be — confused and stuttered.

Obama's answer to the question was coolly diplomatic. He said it was "all part of the job description."

It may be true the president has, does and always will have to deal with a lot of sour sentiment, but there's a lot more hate flying his direction than is usual — or appropriate.

His religious identity, his patriotism and even his citizenship have been called into question.

Across the spectrum of respectability — from town-hall meetings to the halls of Congress — he has been called a liar, a racist and a communist, and his ideals have been said to be against everything we stand for as Americans.

It hardly seems like "part of the job description" is an adequate answer to the question.

The truth, and what Obama probably had to summon every inch of restraint not to say, is he doesn't know.

He doesn't know why parents pull children out of schools so they won't hear him say kids should work hard and do great things for America. He doesn't know why he wins a Nobel Peace Prize and voices nationwide cry out in dismay. He doesn't know why, when the nation faces challenges of paralyzingly huge scope, both his allies and his "enemies" are all fighting over power instead of progress.

"I have to say, why people hate you and, and why, they supposed to love you and — God is love,"

Why, Terrence?  I don't know.

But a great many Americans are just as confused as you are.

And we all hope somebody with power has the courage and wisdom to change it all.

Matthew Albright is a 20-year-old mass communication sophomore from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_malbright.



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Contact Matthew Albright at malbright@lsureville.com