Post US election thoughts
November 15th 2008 09:01
Aren't we in a mess? This year has seen some great changes for a great many number of people, and most of it not good. It's funny because fate has a way of opening up doors for people when the time is right. For example if you look at the recently concluded US general elections what you will see is that Barack Obama won on two counts.
The first is that the economy faltered just at the right time for it to become the major election issue. If had happened one year ago, then perhaps his chances would have been slightly less. If in an alternate dimension Mr. Bush had left the US with a strong economy, then Mr. McCain would be the one being sworn in on Jan 20 2009. However Bush did not, so Obama ran on one simple word...change . A nice simple little word, easy to spell, easy to define, but a whole lot harder to implement. My guess is, is that what you see up on that poduim is a man of talk (as a lawyer you'd expect nothing less). He's undoubtedly highly intelligent but I'm not so sure that putting a man with such a high risk factor in the driving seat of the world's economy is such a good thing to do. Whether he doea what he set out to do remains to be seen, and whether he can hold it all together is another issue again.
I have absolutely no issue with the man Barack Obama. He seems like an extremely nice guy and a fantastic orater but I seem to be one of the few who haven't been caught up in his "cult of personality" which leads me to my second issue.
Critics of Obama are few, especially in the media (except for Fox news) and this fawning over the president elect were to my mind always vacuous and biased. Whether there was a financial crisis or not, the media instead of letting history just play out decided to fan the flames and induce the idea that Obama was the "One". He became the "One" because of who he is (ie a "credible mulatto who doesn't seem to offend decent white Americans") and not what he has done. He ran on promises of the future without bringing up too much of his own track record of change.
People seemed so caught up in the Obama persona that was on public display so much so that African Americans voted for him more on the belief that he has come to rescue them from the depths of the socio-economic ladder because of what colour his skin is and not what he can do, and whites voted for him because the economy had tanked and many had become desperate. Then again perhaps many felt guilt over the racial issues that have plagued and divided the US for centuries.
I haven't seen anything yet to change my mind as to why Mr. Obama is the best man for the job. His promises are just that for now, and as it is said "promises are a comfort to a fool". People have this habit of cheering for promises, which is unfortunate because people shouldn't applaud announcements. Right now, Mr. Obama is an announcement. What's the cheering about?
The first is that the economy faltered just at the right time for it to become the major election issue. If had happened one year ago, then perhaps his chances would have been slightly less. If in an alternate dimension Mr. Bush had left the US with a strong economy, then Mr. McCain would be the one being sworn in on Jan 20 2009. However Bush did not, so Obama ran on one simple word...change . A nice simple little word, easy to spell, easy to define, but a whole lot harder to implement. My guess is, is that what you see up on that poduim is a man of talk (as a lawyer you'd expect nothing less). He's undoubtedly highly intelligent but I'm not so sure that putting a man with such a high risk factor in the driving seat of the world's economy is such a good thing to do. Whether he doea what he set out to do remains to be seen, and whether he can hold it all together is another issue again.
I have absolutely no issue with the man Barack Obama. He seems like an extremely nice guy and a fantastic orater but I seem to be one of the few who haven't been caught up in his "cult of personality" which leads me to my second issue.
Critics of Obama are few, especially in the media (except for Fox news) and this fawning over the president elect were to my mind always vacuous and biased. Whether there was a financial crisis or not, the media instead of letting history just play out decided to fan the flames and induce the idea that Obama was the "One". He became the "One" because of who he is (ie a "credible mulatto who doesn't seem to offend decent white Americans") and not what he has done. He ran on promises of the future without bringing up too much of his own track record of change.
People seemed so caught up in the Obama persona that was on public display so much so that African Americans voted for him more on the belief that he has come to rescue them from the depths of the socio-economic ladder because of what colour his skin is and not what he can do, and whites voted for him because the economy had tanked and many had become desperate. Then again perhaps many felt guilt over the racial issues that have plagued and divided the US for centuries.
I haven't seen anything yet to change my mind as to why Mr. Obama is the best man for the job. His promises are just that for now, and as it is said "promises are a comfort to a fool". People have this habit of cheering for promises, which is unfortunate because people shouldn't applaud announcements. Right now, Mr. Obama is an announcement. What's the cheering about?
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