Super Obama to our rescue

By Maggie Beidelman

Dear President Obama,

All I want for the next four years are my two front teeth. And maybe a shopping center in Baghdad.

I've been a really good girl this past election season.

I wore my "Obama rules" t-shirt to class every day during the campaign.

When you were elected, we trashed our house with streamers and silly string to celebrate.

I enjoyed four different types of tequila at house parties to ring in your inauguration this week.

When you said "Yes, we can," Mr. President, I cheered and screamed, "Because Obama's different!"

You're the Batman of Gotham, the King of Rock 'n' Roll, the only real hope for this flailing country's future.

I cannot wait for you to turn this recession into prosperity and to provide peace on earth.

Without you, we'd be doomed to a life in hell.

Thanks, Obama. You're the best.

Yours truly,

The Santa Clara Hopefuls.

When Jehovah's Witnesses came to my door about an hour after the inauguration and told me that the world would be heaven if Obama were Jesus, I stopped to think.

Whether or not this is true, the hype for change and the recent election have made Obama an idolized figure for weary Americans -- especially for college students.

Stressed about the worst recession since the Great Depression, a seemingly endless war overseas and the fear of unemployment after graduation, we tend to put the newly-elected Barack Obama, a symbol of change, upon an exaggerated pedestal.

But Obama is no Santa Claus, superhero or Jesus Christ Superstar.

Like Obama himself said in his inauguration speech, change depends on ourselves as individuals.

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves," Obama said.

"This is the price and the promise of citizenship. This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny," he said.

We cannot rely solely on Obama for relief from our personal economic situations, or to end the cruelties of war or to extinguish prejudices or worry.

We musn't assign our worries to "Super Obama" to solve them, but look to his presence as inspiration for change in our own lives.

This may mean living frugally, making sacrifices to take care of our earth and remaining hopeful despite our plight.

But, we can do it, Obama suggests.

And I think, Yes, we can.