I believe the words “eloquent” and “Obama” are synonymous. Whether you love President Barack Obama or despise him, I think we can all agree that he is an excellent, engaging orator. During his campaign, Obama’s speeches and messages incited passion and hope in many of the most pessimistic Americans. Now, nearly a year into his presidency, it is obvious Obama has encountered some substantial roadblocks and is taking some hits in the popularity department. He needs to reignite the passion of his campaign.

America needs Obama to paint a picture of interconnection and convergence. America needs to understand how everything is ultimately going to fit together and work out in the end. A collective plan and narrative, particularly a prose-like one, is critical in order to bring the American people together under the idea of shared sacrifice and necessity.

I recently read a column in The New York Times describing these same ideas. Columnist Thomas L. Friedman wrote that Obama needs an awe-inspiring narrative that would tie together Obama’s health care, banking, climate, energy, education, economic and foreign policies. I found myself nodding my head and shouting out loud at this article in vehement agreement.

Friedman wrote, “The president’s eloquence, his unique ability to inspire people to get out of their seats and work for him, has been muted or lost in a thicket of technocratic details.”

Truer words about Obama have not recently been written. Obama’s whole campaign was based around the word “hope” for a reason; it is what the American people saw in him. Some lifelong, right-wing conservatives voted for Obama because they knew he was the best candidate for the underlying national project that America so badly needs.

Friedman argues that nation building should be Obama’s uniting message. In order for America to regain its image and status as an undisputed world power and come out on top of the financial crisis, America desperately needs the president to incite new fire to the ideas of universal health care, betterment of our schools and a more environmentally-conscious way of living.

Obama was born with the gift of communicating powerfully, expressively and passionately to the masses. He needs to further utilize this power in order to effectively implant the idea of nation building in the minds and hearts of the American people. Harsh critics and conservative media correspondents have named Obama a socialist and other unnecessary untruths because he has yet to speak of the big picture of his nation-building plans for our country.

For those of you finding yourselves swayed by the waggling tongues of the media, renew your faith in our promising president. Obama has the country’s best interests at heart, and he knows what needs to be done. He needs to reclaim the spark that impassioned so many during his campaign and utilize it to inspire unity among the citizens of this country to convince and assure them of his master plan for our national renewal.

Andrea Bolt is a junior news-editorial journalism major from The Woodlands.