While I was watching the coverage and feverishly trying to keep pace with friends and their status updates, some of the comments really caught my eye, for good and bad reasons. Some of these were (and it's up to you to put value judgments on them...also, names are withheld because I'm at least a little discrete):
"...thinks it is interesting that in 05 Democrats were aghast that GW spent 40 mil on his innaugeration in a time of war. Obama is on track for 150 mil. hmmm."
"...is not unlike Lee Greenwood in the fact that today, she is proud to be an American."
"...is FEELING VERY PATRIOTIC, AND HOPING FOR THE BEST!"
"...is mushy about America."
"...is just happy to be alive today to see this."
"...didn't realize there was going to be a new president. Wasn't George elected King for life?"
"...still can't believe "we" elected a foreign-born Muslim!"
"...wonders if the country will wake up in three months with a hangover and a case of "coyote ugly"
Half of the comments are generically patriotic, the other half are partisan claptrap either anti-liberal or anti-conservative, or specifically anti-Obama vs. anti-Bush. I won't pretend that this is a representative sampling of the public at large. It's just a random sampling of people I know somehow in some way. And it's all either blind hope or senseless venom. Personally, I come down on the side of blind hope, and yet, I take no great comfort in it.
I think, the only thing I'm taking away from this random and scientifically insusbstantial sampling of comments by my facebook friends is that my faith in the ability of Americans to rally together as Americans is dying or dead. Conservatives will be conservatives to the bitter end, as liberals will be liberals, and partisan pants-pissing will forever distract us from governing the nation and ourselves.
Sweet Jesus, prove me wrong. I'm not asking Obama, or Biden, or Bush or Cheney or McCain. I'm asking America, if America is listening.
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4 comments:
Thanks, Keit, my only wish now is that Blogger allowed me the freedom to disemvowel your spamtastic gish.
I don't think my comment, "feels mushy about America", was generically patriotic or blindly hopeful. I am usually pretty happy about democracy at elections and inaugurations, but I wrote that update on my way to stand in a square with 5000 or so of my fellow students and watch the inauguration with them. As on election night, I really did feel a connection with my fellow Americans and world citizens. I really did feel like we were banding together for something, to be part of America together. I don't think there were a lot of blindly hopeful at that rally (though, obviously in Berkeley, there were a few dipshit hippies). I don't think the concept of Americans rallying together as Americans is dead, I just think maybe it's been a while since people felt there was a lot to rally around.
Thanks, Sarah, for reminding me that context does not translate well through Facebook.
If nothing else, he symbolizes hope for a great number of people. While I too remain cynical about politics and the ability of government to reform itself, I think this may be the event this country needed to rally together. What makes me nervous is the aura of celebrity surrounding our newest president. There is a bizarre mania about him that, correct me if I'm wrong, this country hasn't seen. And mania among the masses is always a dangerous thing. I almost hope the "coyote ugly" wake up call happens to snap some people out of their revelry. Things aren't going to change, at least not any time soon.
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