Change-ish?

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Well, gentle readers, it is that time again. The balloons have all deflated and sagged with age and the red, white and blue bunting hangs limp and moldering from the balconies from which it once brightly and proudly shown. The votes have been cast and the concession speeches have been made from between tight bitter lips and gritted teeth. Throughout this entire absurd comedy I have managed to remain relatively silent. While, admittedly, my brief periods of silence are rare and should be enjoyed to their fullest, this one is now over.

It is now time for a reality check. To all those Obama supporters: Please, please, shut the hell up! Now, don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that the guy won and I hope he fulfills the role of President of the United States in a truly admirable fashion, but you guys really need to relax and at least pretend to be capable a little perspective!

I am not talking about those of you who weighed the issues, did your civic duty and went on with your lives. I am talking about those rabid, dangerously idealistic folks who bought into the political hype-machine created by the man's very talented PR team and his undeniable charisma and gift for public speaking.

Idealism is wonderful and necessary thing to advance the species as a whole. It, however, becomes foolish and dangerous when it blinds one to the reality of any given situation. Obama is a very smart and charismatic man but that is all he is: a man. No more, no less. He is not some messiah figure or magical creature that, once installed into the office, will cause the human species to stop acting like total douches to each other and allow the emergence of wise, friendly dragons and beautiful unicorns that shit rainbows and happiness. Sorry, folks, it is just not going to happen. And while I would love to make friends with dragons and rainbow-crapping unicorns, that doesn't make it a part of the cess-pool-like reality we all have to live in and work with.

Quick poll: Everyone who actually believes the magical change that has been promised by the PR machine is actually going to occur, raise your hand. Now, those who now have your hands raised, use it to pick up a history book and a few newspapers and actually read them!

The reality of the situation is this: At least the next three presidential terms are going to be spent desperately trying to clean up the mess left behind by Captain Clusterfuck and his cronies.

Now, let's, for the sake of argument, assume there was no exaggeration made and President-Elect Obama is, in fact, the world's greatest human. It won't matter. No one will see it. The man is still going to have to do a few things that most folks won't like in order to help pull us out of the train-wreck of a situation we are in now. Humans, as a group, have a long and colorful history of being unwilling to see past their own short-term self-interest. We're all special like that. It's a gift.

Now I realize that it is much easier to wave a flag and spout some feel-good slogan than actually thinking for one's self, (hell, it has worked for the current administration for quite some time) but that doesn't make it a particularly good or helpful thing to do. While I give the man credit for being one of the more honest politicians I have heard, he is still just that: a politician. I will say that again for the hard of thinking. He is a politician and that means when he is not kissing babies he is stealing their lollipops (Stealing lines from old movies is also easier than thinking for one's self as well, apparently).

This is not entirely the fault of the politicians. The majority of the blame for this fact lay squarely on the shoulders of the voters. The voters would never elect a completely honest person to powerful political office so we encourage them to tell us what we want to hear, to lie. Can anyone tell me what you get when you continually reward bad behavior? Anyone? Anyone? Those of you who said "more bad behavior", give yourselves a gold star.

Either way, there are going to be a lot of disappointed people throughout the next four years as those who bought into the PR hype, and indeed, still do, come to realize it was just that: Hype. This is particularly unfair to the President-Elect who, I think, despite my annoyance with his more enthusiastic supporters, will do a good job.

Hey, hopefully, I am wrong. I want my unicorn and dragon just as much as anyone... and maybe a magical, wish-granting penguin thrown in there for good measure.

To those who would suggest that I am, in fact, a cynic: Remember, kiddies, a cynic is just a bruised romantic.

Here's hoping!



Rant Over... For Now