Years ago, I wrote an op-ed piece for the Cleveland Plain Dealer titled, “Maybe It’s Safe to Come Out Now.” I wrote it at the end of 12 years of rule by “The Great Communicator” and “Bush the Lesser,” and on the eve of the inauguration of a Democratic president. I’d have to dig up a copy to see exactly how the op-ed piece went, but the title pretty well sums it up: Like a groundhog checking for its shadow, I poked my head out in 1992 and determined that maybe it was safe to come out.
The feeling today is much the same…magnified by the persona of a new president who brings with him more hope than even the last super-bright, super-hopeful Democratic president…further heightened by the stark contrast to the dim bulbs of the departing administration of “Bush the Least” (better stay close to home, fellas; there are people out there in the world chompin' to try you as war criminals)…but then tempered dramatically by the swirling, toxic vat of global economic woes, global religious conflicts, global warming (why do we not collectively respond with uncontrollable pants pooping when scientists tell us that 25% of the world’s plant and animal species could be extinct by 2050?), peak oil, Israeli/Palestinian tensions, Indian/Pakistani tensions, U.S./Iraqi tensions, U.S./Afghani tensions, U.S./Iranian tensions, U.S./Venezuelan tensions (don’t those U.S. folks get along with anybody?), Russian/Ukrainian tensions, Russian/Georgian tensions, Chinese/Rest-of-the-World tensions, (thank God for the Russians and Chinese; they always make us look good: “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”), etc., etc.
Net-net: All said and done, I’m feeling somewhat more hopeful than yesterday. Enough so to put away that DVD of “Groundhog Day” that I’ve been watching over and over for the last eight years and emerge into the bright, hopeful new world that we now live in. First order of business: Get 80% off a new digital camera at the Circuit City going-out-of-business sale and take some pictures of all those plants and animals that are about to go extinct.
Congratulations, Barack. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
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This is hysterical ("thank God for the Russians and Chinese").
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Blogtopia! Keep posting!
I want that Obama pin, Dad. Ahem. Now.
ReplyDeleteBushus Minimus? Love it. I probably read your PD piece - lived in Cleveland twice. Brecksville and Hudson (Please don't hold that against me.) Found you through Stephen.
ReplyDeleteI'll be back!
KIM
Bush the Least made me snort.
ReplyDeleteGlad to find your blog. Greetings from a fellow Chicagoan.
Tena
I grew up in Chicago, so anyone from there is a friend of mine, et cetera.
ReplyDeleteThis made me giggle, but I say! That guy down in Venezuela is a first class nutjob. That one might not be our fault...
Beautifully said. Obama certainly has a lot to clean up. I hope he gets the time to do that plus some things that will stand out as being uniquely him. It is a time of hope, a time of change, a time to pray he really is who he seems to be or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
ReplyDeleteI called him our Mad King George. I almost felt sorry for him, yesterday, going out as such a loser. But you know, it's not just that he made his bed: he made the bed of millions.
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled with Obama so far.
Speaking of making beds...I think that would be a great job for the ex-President. One of the last acts of Mr. & Mrs. W was spending $450,000 on dishes. I know it wasn't taxpayer money (not directly anyway), but still. I bet if either of them had ever had to make beds at a Motel 6 for a living, they would have come up with something better to do with that money. (Actually, I haven't done the math yet but I'm pretty sure $450,000 would be enough to cover a Motel 6 room for life for everyone who has posted on here -- and there would still be money left over to buy a set of polycarbonate dishes for the White House that would NEVER need to be replaced.)
ReplyDeleteMy best friend in college was an African-American guy, still my beloved friend, writer for the Boston Globe. We were both scholarship students at a small private southern university (University of Richmond)--he on a football scholarship, me an academic one. It wasn't THAT long ago, but it was long enough ago that the fact that we were always together drew stares and comments.
ReplyDeleteThe night Obama got elected, he called me at 11:00 p.m. or whenever his speech was on, and I stayed on the phone with him to the end, both of us crying with joy. It was a magical night. I think both of us hoped the world had changed a bit in the last 20 years, and that it was, indeed, safe to come out again after Bush the Least.
Great post . . . Stephen sent me over. I'll be back!
As a long-time enviromentalist, I can attest to my share of "pants pooping" over climate change. . . shhhh don't tell anyone!
ReplyDeleteThank jah that we now have a president that has openly declared a return to the respect for science. . .
I am more filled with HOPE than I have been in a decade.