(Charles Dharapak / AP)
What is it with do-gooders and their costume changes? For Clark Kent, it was phone booths and blue tights. The less demure Peter Parker would reveal his spidey spandex by simply ripping off his whatever else he had on. And so it is, it seems, with Barack Obama, who was sporting a business suit when he entered Walter Reed Medical Center this morning to visit wounded soldiers--and a more rugged checked-shirt-and-gray-jeans ensemble when he emerged an hour later.
The reason for the swap: a day of hands-on charity work meant to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., and set an example for volunteers participating in the 11,000 public service events organized, nationwide, at the president-elect's request.
Obama's first stop was Sasha Bruce House, a stately 35-year-old homeless shelter for teens near Capitol Hill where volunteers were already busy painting and preparing dormitories for incoming boarders. Shrugging off his casual navy jacket amid a few eager cries of "Mr. Obama!," the president-elect at first cautioned that he should do "something simple 'cause I could screw something up" (no electrical work, for example), but still gamely attempted to pry a stubborn balking valance loose before switching to painting--a job, he informed the press, that he held his 17-year-old summer, earning minimum wage. "This is good practice ‘cause I’m moving to a new house tomorrow," Obama cracked.
“I do hope they’re watching my
technique," he added, referring to the kids. “It’s not rocket science. You take the pole and
the roller, then you roll. But you do need to apply some elbow grease –
like everything we do.”
As that last remark suggests, the real purpose of the Sasha Bruce visit was inspiration rather than preparation. Coating a nearby wall with Yosemite Blue, Obama quoted King--"everybody can be great because everybody can serve"--before explaining what he wanted Americans to take away from National Service Day. “This country is great because of its people," he said. “We can accomplish anything. One of the goals of
my administration will be to make sure that we have a government that’s
more responsive and more effective and more efficient at helping
families. But don’t underestimate the power for people to pull together
and to accomplish amazing things. This facility is an example of
somebody with imagination and determination… These young people have
huge potential that right now is not being tapped, and given the crisis
that we’re in and the hardships that so many people are going through,
we can’t allow any idle hands. Everybody’s got to be involved.
Everybody’s going to have to pitch in, and I think the American people
are ready for that.”
A noble sentiment (and one, Obama added, that the Internet--"an amazing tool to organize
people" that "we don't just want to use... in elections"--can possibly help make a reality). But as each of his predecessors learned soon enough, habit is often stronger than hope. Before Obama left for his next service event--an assembly at Calvin Coolidge High School in northwest D.C. where volunteers were decorating blankets, writing letters and taping video messages for deployed soldiers--Cara Fuller, a worker from Philadelphia, asked if he'd broken a sweat while painting.
“Nah, I don’t sweat," he said. "You ever see me sweat?”
We'll check back in four years.
