The Self-Reliant President

While reading the immensely "dense" text of Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, I deduced that this essay was meant to help a person going through a questioning time in his/her life. I define "questioning" as a time when one questions their beliefs, their morals, or their way of living. It is a guideline of how to live "correctly", according to Emerson. Anyway, while reading this essay, couldn't help but to look at the world around me, and wonder who needed Emerson's help the most. Senat... excuse me... President-Elect Barack Obama's name came to mind. He is going to need to rely only on himself during his term. He has to single-handedly bring the U.S. out of an economic nightmare, manage the war in Iraq, and stop global warming (all the while living up to the gigantic expectation of him because he is the first black president). He has to be self-reliant or he will be a huge bust. He cannot listen to everyone's opinion. He has to continue to do and begin to do whatever he said during his campaign. Take a note from Self-Reliance, Mr. Obama. Emerson says:" Trust thyself...Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being" (20). What Emerson is saying here is that the "Great men" of their time have known that they aren't perfect, but they trust themselves enough to take control of a situation, and they always go with what their heart tells them to do.