With the media having multiple orgasms over the impending inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States, some have voiced bitterness, resentment or frustration of what they perceive as worship and/or adoration of the president-elect. Listening to feedback emails being read on-air on the local TV stations early this morning here in Chicago, one hears comments such as "he's not a god - what's the fuss about" or "he can't walk on water - why all the adoration?".
Although I personally believe that these comments are being submitted primarily by disgruntled Rethuglicans still licking their wounds over the loss of the general elections and the few remaining disenfranchised Hilary Democrats I feel it is my duty to briefly give three reasons why the world is making a fuss over this inauguration.
First and foremost - many are celebrating the end of a failed and detested administration. The Bush presidency has been marred by corruption, partisan policies, gross incompetence, power plays and out-of-touch ideologies. While some may argue that history may look more favorably at the legacy of the GW Bush Administration, the lame duck president is leaving with an approval rating of 22% - one of the lowest in U.S. history. (FYI: Obama is entering with an approval rating of 83%.) The U.S. is currently fighting two unpopular wars, the economy is in tatters, the reputation of the U.S. on the world stage is severely tarnished. Some have even credited GW Bush for reviving the 'Ugly American' - the rest of the world thinks of us as arrogant bullies and hates us.
Secondly, this IS an historic occasion. Sixty percent of the population of the U.S.- the richest and most powerful nation in the world - is white, and they are about to swear in their first black president, NOT because of the color of his skin, but because of the message he delivered. Obama also represents a person the majority of the world identifies with. Although whites make up on one-third of the world's population, they have been the dominant power for nearly 2.000 years, forcing their lifestyle and religions on the rest of the (heathen) world. (Although you'd be hard-pressed to find any Christian that fully realizes that Christianity, just like Islam, IS a Middle-Eastern religion.) Finally, the majority of the world population sees someone in power that they can relate to, someone who looks like them.
The third and probably most important reason why there is such a fanfare over this inauguration is the message of the HOPE this president-elect brings. To quote a line from the movie 'MILK' [sic]: "you've GOT to give the people hope, Harvey, you've got to give them something to live for..."
THAT, more than anything, is what's driving this frenzy.
After years of being told to fear terrorists every time you see an airplane, being beaten over the head repeatedly with divisionary policies, being told repeatedly that our values on our lifestyles were leading us directly down the path to hell and damnation, going to the supermarket and buying less and less because your income is stagnant, for years seeing the names of thousands of innocent young men and women who died for their country for a war waged in the name of misguided ideology, watching jobs being shipped overseas while company executives got richer and richer, feeling suffocated by daily life issues - we long for someone to say to us:
"This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:
Yes, we can."
And today he will.
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