Friday, April 15, 2011

Pondering Barack (a work in progress) Pt 2

I suspect a lot of folks confused Barack Obama with Martin Luther King, Jr.  There were times when Barack himself encouraged that perception especially at his inauguration.  At the time, ABC News reported:
To mark Martin Luther King Day, Obama released a statement linking King's "I Have a Dream" speech on the Washington Mall 45 years ago and his own ascension to the nation's top job, saying, "Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same mall where Dr. King's dream echoes still" (Jan 19, 2009).
We often hear the reminder that Barack never made any secret of his goal to shift the war to Afghanistan because of Pakistan.  I remember him talking about that when he was debating McCain.  And everybody knew Barack got boucoup campaign bucks from banksters.  Once he got elected, though, jubilation at the thought of seeing Bush and Cheney depart was so great that caution and healthy cynicism about politicians in general gave way to pervasive buoyancy.  Democrats love to think, "Happy Days are Here Again," and I am no exception.

Then that plane landed in the Hudson, and filled American hearts with the idea that the nation as a whole could be saved from disaster.  I myself was so optimistic about America at the time that I was inspired to link to a petition demanding George Bush and Dick Cheney be tried as War Criminals (Flight 1549 provides a Metaphor for America, Stonerdate 01.16.09).  I hadn't forgotten about Henry Kissinger, but sometimes a girl just wants to believe dreams can come true.

I still think dreams can come true for individuals.  Actually, I believe it for the whole world, too - I just think it's going to take generations and generations.  On Barack's inauguration day, however, the stage was set to encourage hopes and dreams, particularly Martin Luther King, Jr's dream since, as it happened (and I say that with all the emphasis Bokonon himself intended) it was Martin Luther King Day, and the mall in Washington DC was filled with a diverse crowd, tearfully cheering America's first African-American president as the embodiment of MLK's dream.

When Pete Seeger was singing "This Land is Your Land," in that goofy hat at Barack Obama's inauguration, I thought for one brief shining moment that We the People had elected a man of the people who would speak for us.



Then Barack appointed all his Goldman-Sachs buddies to manage our nation's economy.  Some people started howling that very moment, but I didn't really know who those guys were anyway.  I vaguely remembered them from Bill Clinton's days and no matter what anybody says, I love Bill Clinton.

The trouble is that I hadn't been paying attention to current events for years and years because I was focused on my own troubles - particularly divorcing Buzz Kill, the Summer Boyfriend Reality Show and the ongoing pleasure that is my son, Velvet aka Buster aka Bill - the budding Rainbow Warrior.  I had enough trouble in my life without bringing Dick Cheney and George Bush into the living room on the nightly news.

My mother had already told me that Bill Clinton was Republican Light.  I just didn't realize Bill Clinton was the best Republican we'd seen in decades - and I sure didn't suspect that damn Barack Obama was the first Black Republican elected to such a prominent position.  Now, of course, I suspect that Wall Street Bankers paid for Barack's graduate school as part of a brilliant strategy to divert America's attention from their own shenanigans with a Token Negro in the White House.

Which brings me to Tiger Woods . . .

7 Comments:

Blogger Utah Savage said...

To say I'm conflicted is an understatement.... Honestly, I think this headache is just one more symptom of a broken heart. Typing this is making me cry. At least I'm old enough I won't have to live terribly long. There's that...

April 15, 2011 at 1:21 PM  
Blogger ain't for city gals said...

I didn't vote for Obama but there for one brief day or two I thought well..maybe..I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. It didn't take long to find out he is just another politician...I have often wondered how people that were so gung-ho and just couldn't wait feel about him now.

April 15, 2011 at 5:40 PM  
Blogger PENolan said...

Well, ain't for city gals, now you know. I can't say I was exactly Gung Ho, but I was hopeful.

Utah, there's been more than enough shit going down lately to break a heart, that's for sure. Hope you're on the mend soon.

April 15, 2011 at 6:34 PM  
Blogger mac said...

I think a ot of us were swept up, thinking, finally, America was on the mend.

I remember thinking, if nothing else, the election sent a message to the rest of the world that we were trying to move past petty racism. Sadly, we haven't really gone too far with that either.

What really scares me is, we are so entrenched in the status quo, I am not sure anyone not beholding to the banksters and power brokers can be elected. We may see someone that appears to be a legitimate candidate. But -
“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” - Abraham Lincoln -
As Lincoln points out, often times what looks like a duck doesn't act like a duck.

April 16, 2011 at 2:28 AM  
Blogger Cali said...

I voted for Hillary in the primary because I just didn't think Barack had enough experience in politics-- yet. I was really hoping for a Clinton/Obama ticket to be followed by an Obama/whoever ticket in 2016-- after Hillary had her eight years. But, alas, that was not to be. Since there was no way in hell I was going to vote for McSame and his hundred-years war, let alone Caribou Barbie, well, I had to vote for Obama.

Sorry Greenies, Peace & Freedomers, and all manner of others, but realistically, it's still a two party system and there was no way any of the "also rans" could have won. After so many of my friends voted Green in 2000 and then the gawd-awful aftermath, I just could. not. do. it. The only reason I still spoke to my Greenie friends after the 2000 election was that it all boiled down to FL, not CA. Had we been the fly in the political soup in 2000, I'm not sure I'd be talking to those Greenie friends yet. After all, we are still in (at least) two wars because of Bush/Cheney.

(P.S. My verification word is "dintion." Seems like the perfect word when talking about political hullabaloo, doesn't it? Sounds a bit southern, too, don't ya think? I had an old, dear friend from TN who would have loved that word had he lived to hear it.)

April 16, 2011 at 5:35 AM  
Blogger PENolan said...

Cali - that's why I keep wishing the Teabaggers would cream the Republicans with a candidate of THEIR own in 2012. Don't know how the Kochs and Karl Rove would manage that, but a girl can dream.

And it did all come down to Florida where Bush swiped the election with the help of Clarence Thomas. I've heard Ginny was on the transition committee for George the Younger.

For myself, I'd like to see the Democrats just stand up and be old school Democrats.

ps: I love word verifications sometimes

mac, at the moment, things are entrenched - but it was much the same in 1968 when Yippies and others raised a ruckus at the Chicago DNC.

April 16, 2011 at 8:52 AM  
Blogger yellowdoggranny said...

I want the lie they told..they said he would bring about change.I want that lie to be true.

April 16, 2011 at 5:30 PM  

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