From The Netherlands- Dear Mr. Obama: Find a Leader to Follow

Reformatorisch Dagblad, Netherlands

Dear Mr. Obama: Find
a Leader to Follow

By W. de Kloe

You are undisputedly the most powerful man in the world. Yet your influence on world events is slight. 

Translated By Anne Hukkelhoven

31 March 2014

It has not escaped anyone’s attention in the western part of the Netherlands that you have visited our country this week. Highways were closed off, helicopters filled the airspace and uniforms colored crucial intersections blue. A billboard reminded me that there were another 57 government leaders present at the nuclear summit in The Hague. They were so much standing in your shadow, that I actually was not aware of their presence. You have enjoyed the visit. No wonder, as you could enter the Rijksmuseum without waiting in line to enjoy the “Nachtwacht.” You ate a wonderful dinner with our monarchs and you have laughed about a cycling Prime Minister Rutte. You have let it be known that you even thought it was “gezellig.”The last couple of days, I have thought about how it would feel to be the most powerful man in the world. Wherein does that power lie? Was it visible when your less powerful colleague Putin played a game of conquest in the Black Sea? Is your hand discernible in Syria, in Central Africa? Do you have influence on the world economy, and is it thanks to your policy that we seem to be leaving behind the crisis? Has the world really become more safe because of your contribution to the nuclear summit, which was the reason for your visit? Or does your power possibly manifest itself in great America? I cannot shake the feeling that it is disappointing to leave a mark while your opponents, the Republicans, call the shots in some agencies.

You are undisputedly the most powerful man in the world. Yet your influence on world events is slight.And are you capable of making that difference in America? At most, in that, you strive more for innovation and hence the dismantling of the old, while a Republican would primarily make an effort to conserve the trusted capitalistic, and maybe also Christian values.I wonder whether you are really happy in your role. Maybe you are looking forward to the moment of handing over [your role] to your successor. That does not go easily, for that matter: over-the-top, sidetracked, with no second chance possible — as a disappointment into the history books. How can you get your life back on track later?

Can I give you some advice? Do not expect it from your own abilities, but find a leader to follow. I know One who is Almighty. His tenure does not end after eight years.

Transparent, all right.