22 January 2009

Odiously historic

A reader writes...
Yesterday at work, the entire hospital was "dead" between 12 and 1 when Obama gave his speech. So many people interested. And when I kept working, people said to me: "aren't you afraid of missing history?".

The number of people walking around saying things about how the economy is now saved or how terrorism and Israel/Palestine will be solved, poverty, Health Care for all etc. etc.

There are a lot of people with hightened expectations that Obama will deliver on whatever they think their key issue is.

The thing is that US foreign and domestic policy is largely driven by multiple factors outside of the president's control. Mark my words, Obama is simply Bush III.

Sure Obama is half black, and that is historical. Except I don't place much emphasis on the "first" whatever, unless it is the very first person to do something significant.

But I did feel something yesterday, and that was this feeling similar I think to what perhaps some Roman citizens felt near the end of the Empire, when the crowd wanted "free" bread, when corruption ran unheeded, and when the Emperor was propped up by making outrageous promises and spending massive treasure for the crowds only to be dragged out into the streets months later by an angry mob.

Obama is going to spend trillions of dollars on corporate welfare programs and government programs. That is money the US doesn't have, and debt that GDP growth can no longer outgrow. He's doing it on the backs of children and future Americans. And so are we in Canada.

That is odiously historic. And history repeats itself.
As does the mainstream media.

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LAST WORD:
In 2004, George W. Bush continued dividing America with his divisive policies by divisively winning the election with 50.7 per cent of the vote. In 2008, Barack Obama united the entire world in a unifying spirit of unity by winning with 52.9 per cent of the vote.

That 2.2 per cent makes a massive difference, apparently. What the media actually means with all this talk of Obama uniting everybody is that a majority of voters finally supported the media’s candidate; you can feel the unity in every US newsroom, from the New York Times to the Chicago Tribune.

And beyond.