Integrity: What Sets Men Apart

Do you know who exhibits an amazing amount integrity on a daily basis? President-elect Barack Obama. He gave a speech this morning about the economy and about his plan to get America back on track, a plan his team is calling the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. In this speech, he showed the world his level of integrity many times.

Integrity means being honest
It could have been very easy for Obama to get up to the podium this morning and spew forth a bunch of the government double-speak we’ve been subjected to over the past two terms. What he chose to do instead was to get up there and speak to us as intelligent citizens and let us know that his plan(s) will take work and they will take time to fruitate. Here are three examples of his honesty, which he delivered in a straight-forward and candid way:

It will take time, perhaps many years, but we can rebuild that lost trust and confidence.

There is no doubt that the cost of this plan will be considerable. It will certainly add to the budget deficit in the short-term. But equally certain are the consequences of doing too little or nothing at all, for that will lead to an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes, and confidence in our economy.

It will not come easy or happen overnight, and it is altogether likely that things may get worse before they get better. But that is all the more reason for Congress to act without delay. I know the scale of this plan is unprecedented, but so is the severity of our situation. We have already tried the wait-and-see approach to our problems, and it is the same approach that helped lead us to this day of reckoning.

Integrity means being fair
In what will probably be the most difficult part of his plan, Barack Obama announced:

Instead of politicians doling out money behind a veil of secrecy, decisions about where we invest will be made transparently, and informed by independent experts wherever possible. Every American will be able to hold Washington accountable for these decisions by going online to see how and where their tax dollars are being spent.

If this can be pulled off, and if Obama sticks to his guns and follows through on this promise, government in Washington will be forever changed. Hopefully for the better, but only time will tell. Doing the right thing in spite of opposition, the magnitude of which none of us can even begin to imagine, is a very honorable and fair thing to do on behalf of all Americans.

Integrity means being committed towards respectable goals
In the quote below, Barack Obama drives home the reason why I voted for him: He knows America can be better and will not settle for government’s indecisiveness and inaction.

We should have an open and honest discussion about this recovery plan in the days ahead, but I urge Congress to move as quickly as possible on behalf of the American people. For every day we wait or point fingers or drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs. More families will lose their savings. More dreams will be deferred and denied. And our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

That is not the country I know, and it is not a future I will accept as President of the United States. A world that depends on the strength of our economy is now watching and waiting for America to lead once more. And that is what we will do.

Now, does being a man of integrity mean he’s perfect? Absolutely not. He’s not only human, but also a politician who will soon have arguably the highest level of power on the face of the earth at his fingertips.

I remain, though, in high hopes that he will maintin his realistic outlook, detemination and morals to better America once he actually takes office.

All quotes are excerpts from his speech. Read the full transcript on Change.gov.