"Obama is My Homeboy" - What??

Today I was dining for lunch out on the patio at Naples near Grand Central Station. I was talking to my colleagues and enjoying a chicken sausage pizza when I noticed an individual walk by wearing a t-shirt with "Obama is My Homeboy" across the front. The guy appeared to be a bike messenger - sans bike - but he was grooving along listening to his ipod. I wondered why this guy thinks Obama is his "homeboy." It made me think about what qualities I want in my own "homeboys" and likewise what qualities I want in my president. Not surprisingly, these requirements are starkly different.

For me, a homeboy should know some good jokes to tell while drinking beer at a barbecue. If he's a hockey buddy he talks a little trash on the ice and contributes good BS for locker room banter. He may be someone I'd enjoy hitting the woods with, shotgun in tow, dog on point 40 yards ahead. My accountant should decidedly not be a homeboy. He should be unemotional and have attention to detail to the point of annoyance. Likewise, I'd just as soon not have my cardiologist (who I am sure I will need in the next 4 years) be a homeboy either... especially should I need bypass surgery. I certainly don't want or need my president to be my homeboy.

Maybe the bike messenger feels he has something in common with Obama. Perhaps he too was a community organizer - after all, maybe he passed out fliers promoting an outdoor concert over in Brooklyn, or he volunteered one Saturday at a "green" rally.

I will tell you what I want from my president. I don't think it is too much to ask. I want my president to be a lover of freedom, of free markets; a man of faith who is humbled by something much bigger and grander than himself. He should be tough, yet diplomatic. He shouldn't be an apologist for America or our way of life. He should protect the constitution, in its purest and simplest form, and recognize the limits it imposes on government.

People refer to Obama as the hippest president EVER! The elite think he is urbane and fashionable. Our youth - well OMG he is so kewl LOL! I don't care about any of that to be honest. I don't need him to be cool (or "kewl" for that matter), I don't need him to be my skin color either. If he sneaks a Marlboro on the lawn of the White House after midnight, that is no concern of mine.

Anyway, while I am not sure someone like me is even allowed to have homeboys, I still wouldn't want one in the Oval Office!