We As A People Will Get There
It hasn't been that long. Don't forget. 2 wars. The al-Qaeda and Bin Laden boogieman. No hope for healthcare or tax breaks for the folks. Anti-intellectual, anti-science screamers in charge. I remember very clearly how scary it was for america.
Are we out of the nightmare yet? Bad trip hangover done? Not quite. The economy can be better but it's been turned around as of late, just like GM. Our health and education systems will take another decade to modernize. Racism has new blood but their grasp on logic continues to dwindle. SuperPacs and the power of big money in politics are on the lips of regular Americans again so perhaps with this knowledge will come reform. Ya right!
Look how young he looked. Look how happy and hopeful we were. Realistically the man has affected huge change and has more to accomplish. I've been to socialist countries, I've spoke in length with people who live or lived under socialist systems. America is not and will never be such a system. The smear of 'socialist' at Obama needs to be countered. Just keep that in mind as the general election starts to heat up.
Obama The Soul Singer
The Obama Argument
Here's a well made argument on why and how Obama is far more successful than the current narrative in the news allows. Give it a read if you are interested in straight talk and a factual review over hyperbole. If you are a basketball fan you know the 'long game'. The game is four quarters and every team has a run in them. Obama seems to play politics like it's The Finals, not theater (or a scrimmage).
Politics 101
Pulled from the headlines and translated by me:
President Obama: I want a new agency to protect US consumers against predatory lending and other financial exploitations. I ran on this idea, won, and will get to work setting up the agency and naming a director, as specified by the passed Wall Street reform legislation.
Republican Congress: We don't like the idea of this agency and more regulation. Most of the companies and industries it might regulate are supporters of ours. We are going to fight this agency and give no support to this (even though the law passed last year).
Modern American Racism
It's the end of 2011 in America. Some say "post-race". Some of us were raised to treat people based on the value of their character, while some still use skin color and cultural differences to separate. Don't believe me? Here's some names used regularly to describe President Obama and first lady Michelle, pulled at random from the comments on any right-wing web site:
Promises Kept
In case you missed it... my president did the right thing yet again.
Barrack Hussein Obama is being completely underestimated and ignored again. This man could be the finest US president in ages but he seems to still be struggling to escape the ditch the country was driven into by his predecessor. If unemployment stays high he will have trouble getting a second term. I notice Republican presidents always seem to pin economic troubles on the former regime but Democrats just take the blame no matter their role.
In foreign policy, Obama and Clinton have been outstanding. By considering the muslim extremists a criminal organization again (as opposed to the infidels on the wrong end of a holy war) Obama and the rest of the world has made huge progress fighting this menace since 2009. The Libyan revolution was a delicate balancing act that appears headed towards an acceptable outcome. And don't forget -- the boogie man was capped in the chest by our finest special forces, just as any true american leader would have managed to accomplish eight years ago.
Simplify If You Want, But Remain Accurate
Of course we are all talking about and adjusting to the big news of the day. 66 years to the day the last boogie man got his, Obama ordered the strike that most liberals have been waiting for.
I never wanted war with Iraq and I never wanted to pay for bringing Afghanistan closer to the 20th century. Just about every one of my friends who would identify as an american liberal believed the same. The raw emotions of 9/11, the fear marketing perfected by Karl Rove and Fox News, and the general ignorance of world affairs suffered by most americans led us into this delusion that we can declare a military war on what is in effect a criminal organization. You don't use marines to take out the mafia.