Where Did It All Go So Wrong?
Okay, I admit it. I donated to, campaigned in favor of, and voted for Barack Obama, and I’m not exactly thrilled about it so far.
He promised transparency. I guess that meant he was going to have the windows at the White House washed on a regular basis. He promised an end to lobbyists in the White House. I guess he meant that lovely white house you can see when you’re heading down I-95 past Emporia, Virginia. He promised the dog he would get for his kids would be a shelter mutt. I guess he meant some other kids. He promised to close Guantanamo. I guess he meant after he found another galaxy that would take all the detainees. He promised to reverse Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. I guess he meant in the Irish military. He promised to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. I guess he must have been talking about some other defense project. He promised to end the war in Iraq. I guess he meant just before he comes up for reelection. He promised a whole new focus on clean energy. I guess he meant after drilling the remaining life out of the planet. He promised there would be no place for torture in America. I guess he meant after he exonerated everyone who had anything to do with it. He promised health care reform. I guess he meant health care revision, where the people get screwed and the insurance companies get richer. And most of all, he promised change – change in the way Washington works. Oops! I just blinked. Did I miss it? Granted, there are limitations to what one person can do, but I don’t know whether I’d want to vote for him again.
The problem is, I look across at the republicans, and I see. . .nothing. No ideas, no solutions, no leadership. I see the token black head of the RNC, who is only marginally less than incompetent. I see the House leader and his runner-up (John Boner and Eric Can’t-er) who are so devoid of character and substance that I wonder how they keep getting elected. I see the Senate leader and his sidekick (Mitch McCon-ell and John Kil) whose only mission in life seems to be putting an uppity president in his place by just saying no. And I see intellectual midgets like Palin and Bachmann urging a group of undereducated, under-informed, unintelligent teabags into the kind of hatred and violence I thought had died with the Sixties.
Show me a leader who cares more about the people of this country than lining his own pockets. Show me a leader who speaks for all Americans, not just Wall Street or Main Street or Rich Street or White Street. Show me a leader who can take us from the brink of disaster to redemption – because that’s exactly where we are. Show me a leader who understands that. I’ll vote for him.
