We had the worst president in history, we have the best president in history. The age of foolishness is now the age of wisdom. It was the epoch of absurd ‘belief’, it is the epoch of…incredulity?
With Mr Obama promising to ‘cure cancer in our lifetimes’, the limits of my ability to ‘believe’ are indeed strained.
With the many current crises pressing in like starving lions on a Christian, President Obama has promised to make the United States a global leader again, in every field: education, science, climate change prevention, as well as creating a health care system for ‘every American’.
Somehow, we are being asked to ‘believe’ that all this is not only possible but imminent, in the face of all that economists are telling us about the world economy and its failures to stabilize, due to the sheer scale of corruption that has overtaken it. Asked to believe that after 8 years of war in Iraq, the time is now to cut losses there and concentrate on Afghanistan (and recently, Pakistan), while simultaneously acknowledging that withdrawal from Iraq may not be possible for several years – does this mean anything beyond changing the personnel of companies who will receive fat defense contracts in the future? It seems paranoid to imagine it all really does come down to money, but in the absence of real benefit to staying in Iraq for any other purpose than overseeing the rebuilding of the destroyed state, it seems reasonable to see Mr Obama as ‘trapped’ there for some time (and who knows how long that will be?)
But believe it we must; for we understand the alternative is to leave ‘business as usual’ to people who have proven themselves so unscrupulous as to beggar belief, while literally beggaring the entire world with policies of unmitigated greed. The GOP has been running a pathetic campaign of fear and racism, not so subtly attempting to provoke factions into violent confrontation. The billions of dollars that have gone awol – from the contracts for the Iraq war to the initial Wall Street bank bailouts – have gone to rich conservatives of ‘beliefs’ that would even subvert the Constitution in order to protect their wealth and privilege (ironically championed by pseudo-workin’ man Rush Limbaugh and the Lady Macbeth of hockey moms, Sarah Palin). President Obama seems to have chosen to see these ‘folks’ as beneath his contempt, but in fact he has allowed billions to return to the criminals who stole them in the first place.
In the last 8 years, religious ideologies have been allowed to become too powerful, the latest case in point: the newly proposed ‘anti-blasphemy’ law at the United Nations.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_YpdanJ3aI
Yes, my old friend Christopher Hitchens, doing what he now does best. But these are such things as dreams are destroyed by. While Mr Obama asks us to believe in a new America, we must also realize that there are real situations that have already been put into motion, forces which are irrationally, cruelly and powerfully against the ‘vision’ offered by the Obama administration.
I want to believe, I want to say, yes, we can! But when I saw Bobby Jindal’s absurd/pathetic post-Obama speech, and the evil Newt Gingrich on the cover of the Sunday NYTimes Magazine, I know the GOP is as deluded as it has ever been. There is much too much ‘belief’ out there.
As much as a hero seems necessary – and to some, even destined to arise – people of reason must not hope in a savior. The only thing that will bring our civilization back from the brink of destruction is the steadfast preservation of human rights, which includes ending war-for-profit, starvation, disease, homelessness, and climate change disaster, and assures rights for women – which will be more universally welcome and beneficial than even a cure for cancer. The U.N. imposing blasphemy laws spells the beginning of the end of freedom of speech, education and the Press. President Obama must deliver more than hope in his future plans; he must actively oppose those who seek to sabotage his vision of delivering humane and peaceful policies, starting with those who act solely in the ‘interests’ of the Republican party. Otherwise, Obama’s hope may prove to be either sadly naive, or too late in coming.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/us/politics/24obama-text.html?pagewanted=1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/02/generals-seek-to-reverse_n_163070.html
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=9b8e3a6d-795d-440f-a5de-6ff6e78c78d5