The inauguration of Barack Obama almost scares us – not because we didn’t support him (we did, enthusiastically) or because we don’t have confidence in him, but because the expectations are so high.
The Eye has seen the inaugurations of eight presidents, and not one – not even John F. Kennedy – came close to generating the almost frenzied excitement, bordering on worship, that we’re seeing now.
It’s not just that the new president is an inspiring orator and a charismatic personality, or that after eight years of The Worst President in History (that’s The Eye’s verdict, let future historians say what they will) we’re convinced that anything has to be better.
No, what’s behind the Obama fervor is the feeling that, after what seems like forever, we’re again going to have a president who believes government can do something to make the country better.
For the past eight years the mantra of the Bush administration has been “No, we can’t.”
No, we can’t fix our broken health care system.
No, we can’t do anything about global climate change.
No, we can’t develop alternative energy.
No, we can’t repair our crumbling roads and bridges.
No, we can’t reform our flagging public education system.
No, we can’t do anything to reverse the downward slide in wages.
No, we can’t protect small investors from crooks and swindlers.
No, we can’t have honest and competent government officials.
No, we can’t save a great American city from drowning.
No, we can’t honor and obey the Constitution.
No, we can’t do anything except give tax cuts to people who don’t need them and fight an endless war that didn’t need to be fought.
Now we have a president who ran on the slogan, “Yes, we can.” Republicans ridiculed that slogan as corny and naïve, but Obama had the last laugh. He understood something the Republicans apparently have forgotten since Ronald Reagan proclaimed it was morning in America: Americans are inveterate optimists, and in this country “Yes, we can” will trump “No, we can’t” every time.
So now the man whose slogan was “Yes, we can” will have to show that he really can. Can he? We’ll find out. But we deeply believe that at least he’s going to try.
This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2009.
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Still bitter and cynical, I see. Keep up that sunny, optimistic attitude and the Republicans will be out of power for the next 50 years.
I don’t have any naive illusions that the new president is going to clean up the colossal mess left behind by Bush overnight, or even in a couple of years, or maybe even in four years. But as I said, he’s going to try. This president at least has a vision of the common good. The Bush-Cheney administration had no vision of the common good; with them it was all about increasing their personal power and enriching themselves and their cronies.
Ok, first let me say this: If I hear ONE MORE neo-con use the term ‘messiah’ I will freak. I know you think it’s cute when Limbaugh, Larson, et el., do it, but it is really obnoxious (big shocker, I know). Many of us do have high hopes for Obama. Who wouldn’t considering the mess we’re in now. We have to remain realistic that it will take years to clean things up. The neo-con mob has been deriding Obama since the election. “It’ll take more than charisma and eloquence to polish it up!” Yes, it will. It will take time. Let’s give it time.
It is also noteworthy that he is trying to make the ‘we’ in ‘yes, we can,’ meaningful. We all bear some responsibility for the situation we are in and his oratory has expressed the need for every person to shoulder their share and help solve the problems. There are some who will sit on the sidelines and cheer every misstep and stumble while they ignore or minimalize any progress the nation makes. Ideologues will hope he fails and ignore the cost to the nation–and the world–and dream of the day they feel that their interests are once again represented in the White House to the denial of all else. In reality, we all sink or swim together.
HBM; I am not bitter like you. I hope and pray (can we still do that with Democrats in control?)that Obama and his party do a great job for this country. I would like nothing better than to want to vote for him in 4 years.
You praise Obama for being positive and damn The Bulletin for being positive. Little bit hypocrical don’t you think???
“HBM; I am not bitter like you.”
Me bitter? What do I have to be bitter about? My guy WON, remember?
“You praise Obama for being positive and damn The Bulletin for being positive.”
There’s a difference between being positive and being delusional. Obama doesn’t sugar-coat his message and pretend that everything’s coming up roses; he admits we have severe problems and things are going to get worse before they get better. This is different from The Bulletin’s Pollyanna prose.
“It does make me wonder if John McCain had been elected, whether he would have been afforded such a welcome?”
Probably not, because (a) he is not African-American and (b) there wouldn’t have been a real regime change, just a continuation of Bush/Cheney/neo-con policies.
I’ve never been one to store much hope in high government, but I was encouraged (perhaps excited) by the seriousness underlying Tuesday’s Inaugural. Sound-bite analysts have found nothing to excite them in Obama’s address, but listeners with attention spans heard the radical, challenging echoes of the Apostle Paul and stand impressed and hopeful. As political theology goes, this is not the insipid threat of damnation made by a petulant child full of meanness and spite, but the sober, deeply heartening call to redemption offered by a faithful adult full of hope and love.
” … the radical, challenging echoes of the Apostle Paul … ”
“When I was a child I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things.” — I Cor. xiii. 11
It is, indeed, time for Americans to grow up. And we should start with my own Baby Boomer generation. Isn’t 60 years long enough to postpone acting like a grown-up and take on grown-up responsibilities? Isn’t it time to realize that life is not all fun and games and self-indulgence?
Isn’t time for the Democrats to realize that more government is not the solution, life is not fair and people are resposible for their own actions???
“Isn’t time for the Democrats to realize that more government is not the solution, life is not fair and people are resposible for their own actions???”
Yawwwwwwwnnnn …
Isn’t it time for the Republicans to stop peddling the same old, tired, stale, discredited, failed dogmas?
So you believe more government and no one responsible for their own actions is the way of Obama????
Jed, don’t be stupid.
So to question you is stupid???