And another little bit of politics...

[angelophile]

In a world of hyperbole and political posturing from the world's media, at least I can rely on The Onion and The Daily Mash to report the news in a balanced and realistic way.

From The Daily Mash: America Buys All That Change Bullshit

Meanwhile, The Onion manages to lay it out even more simply: Black Man Given Nation's Worst Job

EDIT: Just to clarify, if anyone's thinking I've something against Obama, that's not the case. I actually like him and if I'd been in the US I certainly would have cast my vote his way over the alternative. My bemusement is aimed at the expectations that people seem to have from him, a "blank slate" politician. And if he ever meets such expectations, it will be a miracle. As The Onion article says "Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."

It's already showing that expectations are unrealistic. California Proposition 8 was passed by 504,000 votes, effectively overturning the California Supreme Court's ruling on making same-sex marriage legal. Ellen DeGeneres said in a statement Wednesday to The Associated Press that she, "like millions of Americans, felt like we had taken a giant step toward equality" by electing Barack Obama as president. DeGeneres says that with the passage of California's Proposition 8, "we took a giant step away." But bear in mind that Obama is not for same-sex marriage. He is for civil partnerships, but he came out against gay marriage, but that's just one example of someone expecting more from him than he's going to be able to deliver.

(Bear in mind that the people voted for him. The people also voted for Proposition 8. Unfortunately the democratic process can also rear up and bite people on the ass sometimes. It's strange to consider Obama's election a great step in that regard when he's not prepared to take the step himself.)

I just get the impression the American public is setting itself up for disappointment. And the backlash, when it comes, will be strong and unjustified to poor old Obama.

Comments

[occamsnailfile.livejournal.com]

Obama also tends to feel that once rights are given they shouldn't be taken away, such as in the Prop 8 case, but he can't make statements in favor of gay marriage since it's such a ridiculously contentious issue. Hurray for red herrings.

But for the rest, wholeheartedly I agree. He has an uphill battle against entrenched interests to genuinely repair many of the things wrong in the US, though for the first two years at least the legislature should be on his side. At the very least, he won't make the supreme court any worse. At the very least, Americans woke up and stopped drinking the Bush Kool-Aid. Most of them anyway.