Washington: Nearly a year into his presidency, Barack Obama acknowledged that he at times is wracked by doubt and disappointment when his key agenda items are slowed by multiple hurdles.
"You know, folks ask me sometimes why I look so calm," Obama told several hundred worshippers from the pulpit of Washington’s Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, where slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr once delivered a sermon.
The US leader is famous of his aura of unflappability in the face of crisis, but he acknowledged that there are sometimes roiling emotions beneath the surface.
"I have a confession to make. There are times when I’m not so calm. My wife knows. There are times when progress seems too slow. There are times when the words that are spoken about me hurt. There are times when the barbs sting. There are times when it feels like all these efforts are for naught," he added. "Change is so painfully slow in coming. And I have to confront my own doubts."
But the President said it was his faith that gave him inner calm and peace and urged congregants at the church to find solace in theirs. "So let us hold fast to that faith," Obama urged the congregation. Obama spoke on the eve of the Martin Luther King Jr holiday.
"Together, we shall overcome the challenges of the new age. Together, we shall seize the promise of this moment", he said.
Despite some successes, Obama now confronts a thicket of domestic and foreign challenges, among them a ballooning deficit, 10% unemployment, approval ratings tipping below 50%, revived fears of terror.
Bureau Report
