It must be very hard to be Barack Obama. He's constantly being pressed for definitive answers, resolute plans, and swift follow-through. But rarely can he deliver on all three, as we've seen in the past year, and it's no fault of his own.

The political apparatus is forever getting clogged with Senatorial bickering, Supreme Court legislations, public dissent, and an endless list of other obstacles that make Obama the idealist look more like Obama the deceiver.

Take a look at how General Patraeus tries to move the goal posts set by the president just a few months ago, when he said that we would be out of Afghanistan by July of 2011. Again, I am sympathetic to Obama here: He may have had every reason to believe this would be possible when he set that date. If the date gets pushed back, which it surely will, I blame the junky machinery of Washington D.C. Unfortunately, it'll be Obama who ends up taking the blame.

I've heard it been said that a great leader leads but also gets others to do some leading. During the State of the Union address last night, President Obama, I hope, made it clear that if we are going to get this country back on track, it is going to take all of us.

He took the Republicans to task for being obstructionist on most bills in the Congress. "Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership." But also reminded the Democrats to use their majority: "I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve problems, not run for the hills." He also took blame for not selling the health insurance reform bill better to the American people.

President Obama proposed a lot of things, some progressive like a cap on student loan repayments and forgiveness after 20 years (which I have no idea how that would be paid) but also some not so much like new offshore drilling (Drill, Baby, Drill?).

Even the most progressive ideas sometimes are implemented in a way that doesn't fulfill the intent. Top universities are giving more aid to wealthier families. Mortgage modifications aren't addressing the fact that homes are underwater and include balloon payments.

And that is where we come in.

I truly believe that President Obama has a progressive streak, but that is all it is, a streak. He also has conservative bend. President Obama said that the Congress and he were voted in to serve the people and the people need to remind them all of what we want. We need to remind them of what that is by pushing them on health care, education funding, jobs and anything else we hold dear.

Do we really want failing schools to be closed and communities disrupted in order to ship students around like cogs in some machine?

Will we really read the earmarks online before the vote in order to voice our opinion?

Will "Don't Ask Don't Tell" really be repealed?

One year after the Lily Ledbetter Act, will we finally push the Senate to pass its partner bill, the Paycheck Fairness Act?

Which way will you push them?

It seems to me that one of the most interesting and relevant free speech issues is whether or not satellite radio flourishes. Everything, at present, conspires against its continued success. The auto industry -- a cash center for satellite radios -- is in deep turmoil. And paying for radio in this Great Recession economy is a luxury that not too many can afford. Still, satellite radio is a marvelous medium in which nearly anything goes. You'll remember, of course, that shock jock Howard Stern jackrabbited there from the now moribund terrestrial radio medium after Viacom's Sumner Redstone failed to defend him from the slings and arrows of the overly censorious FCC at the height of the Bush administration.

But that was then, this is now. Currently, satellite radio's biggest draw -- whether you love or hate his potty mouth -- is the libertine libertarian Howard Stern. But Stern's contract expires at the end of 2010, which has led to a lot of speculation among the chattering classes. Whatever decision Howard Stern reaches, he would probably not be getting $80 million a year. From Bloomberg's BusinessWeek:

Sirius XM, which averted bankruptcy last year after John Malone's Liberty Media Corp. bought a 40% stake in exchange for $530 million in loans, may not be able to afford to renew the radio talk-show host's existing contract, worth $500 million, said Tuna Amobi, an analyst at Standard & Poor's. "Even if (a new contract) were half of what it was before, it would still be a major financial burden for Sirius," Amobi says. "It's a totally different game."

For realsies! Stern is now in the early stages of contract negotiations. I do not envy Sirius-XM CEO Mel Karmazin, who is going to have one hell of a time navigating Stern's impending free agent status. Howard doesn't strike me as the type of guy who relishes a pay cut. There has already been some high profile courting from terrestrial radio, to which he might return. "We would be the most logical company for him to optimize his exposure and financial return," Clear Channel CEO John Hogan told Bloomberg's BusinessWeek. "We clearly have both the willingness and the financial wherewithal to consider high-profile talent."

If Stern were to bolt back to terrestrial radio, could satellite radio survive in his absence? Howard brought with him more than seven million listeners/subscribers/hard core fans to the new medium -- how many would stay? How many of those loyalists have been impressed enough with satellite radio that they would pay the subscription fees -- or, possibly, a la carte -- sans Howard Stern. Would enough stay that Sirius-XM could remain not only profitable, but the interesting experiment in the outer limits of free speech that it is right now?

[Image: Wikimedia Commons]

I didn't plan to write a wrap-up of January's notable deaths, but when each time I heard of one of these deaths, I thought, "Oh, a good idea for AWEARNESS!" And before I could get to my computer, another one happened. I'm sure I missed some, but leave them in the comments.

Trendsetter
Ebony Fashion Fair Producer and Director Eunice W. Johnson. She was the widow of Johnson Publishing Company founder John H. Johnson, gave Ebony magazine its name and was also the driving force behind the creation of the Fashion Fair makeup line, one of the first makeup lines for women of color. [NPR]

Entertainers
Art Clokey, the creator of Gumby and Pokey, and "Davey and Goliath." Clokey modeled his most famous character, Gumby, after his father, Arthur Farrington, who died in a car accident when Art was 9. [Boston.com]

Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass, who was paralyzed in 1982, a moment in history I remember intensely as my aunts use to play his music and talk about him all the time. He died of a protracted illness that followed a diagnosis of colon cancer last year. [Philly.com]

Enrich Segal, author of the iconic 1970s book and film Love Story. According to The New York Times, Erich Segal, who had suffered with Parkinson's disease for 25 years, died of a heart attack at home in London.[January Magazine]

Robert Parker, creator of "Spencer for Hire." Beginning with "The Gudwulf Manuscript" in 1973 and running through 2009's "The Professional," the Spencer series included almost 40 books. But don't fret, two more books are forthcoming. [LA Times]

Foodies
Glen W. Bell Jr. named our favorite fast food taco place after himself: Taco Bell. He had failed to break into the hamburger business, but found his love of Mexican food rewarded him. [NYTimes]

Al Bernardin, former dean of McDonald's Hamburger University (the fast-food chain's training center) and inventor of the legendary Quarter Pounder. He was instrumental in the birth of the company's Filet-o-Fish sandwich, french fries and hot apple and cherry pies as well. [SlashFood]

Donald Goerke, creator of SpaghettiOs. More than 150 million cans of SpaghettiOs are sold each year. Mr. Goerke also created the company's Chunky soup line.[NYTimes]

Considering the variety in these deaths, any tribute would be hard to pull off. At least it would have an excellent soundtrack, a buffet of food and a barrel of laughs and tears.

(Note: I wrote separately about Mary Daly, who died in January, and the late December passings of Brittany Murphy and Vic Chesnutt were also covered on the blog.)

"In the first of four primetime specials that examine some of the country's defining moments, noted broadcaster Tavis Smiley accompanies Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on a diplomatic mission abroad, to meetings on Capitol Hill and within the State Department itself, to give the American public a candid and incisive view of the inner workings of U.S. diplomacy and international relations."

The one-hour program airs on PBS on Wednesday, January 27, from 8:00 - 9:00 pm EST.

[image: One on One With Hillary Clinton courtesy of Tavis Smiley Reports]