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Our List of Summer Hopefuls
7 years ago
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Yankee, hide your guns!
...was a Canadian neighbor's response to the election result :) Digesting the varied reactions to this election has been priceless. Like the rest of the world, my students are mesmerized with Obama because- as one student put it- "we have the same skin color"- and one of his long lost relatives is Muslim. Generally, the international community is ecstatic with the Obama win, while many people I know back home are wringing their hands. Either reaction seems a bit silly. Really... who cares? In the grand scheme of things, did it really matter whether McCain or Obama was elected? The outcome will invariably be the same: a figurehead who does nothing more than pander to those would would elect him, just like the previous presidents. I'm afraid the messianic fervor surrounding Obama will lead to dashed hopes and profound disillusionment. After all, he is a man, not a deity, with enormous challenges to face. My favorite outcome of the election is that I will never again have to hear about plumbers, hockey moms, first dudes, "mavericks", or - most importantly- "change I can believe in".
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4 comments:
So young to be cynical! :)
For you, electing an African American president may not be a big deal, because you did not grow up around racist attitudes, or when there were white's only and black's only bathrooms, or when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus. I really didn't experience that either, at least not to that extreme extent. But for people in a whole other generation, this election was a big deal. More so than most elections. To see the faces of Jesse Jackson and Oprah, with tears streaming down their faces, because they never really thought they would live to see the day that an African American would be elected as President of the United States, was extremely moving. Our country has made a shift, I expect somewhat like the Civil Rights movement in the 60's, but even I can't really say that with authority because I was barely even a kid myself when it happened, being only 1 in 1968. I hear people talk about events in history, like when JFK got shot, and they always comment that they will remember that day as if it were yesterday, because it affected so many people. It's also kind of like when the Challenger blew up. Or when the Berlin wall came down in Germany. The 2008 election represents so much more than the perception that we are inevitably headed yet again toward another politician falling short of our ideals and hopes. This election elicits the same historic reaction in so many people, because it shows that change does occur, but sometimes it takes 40 years to actually see it.
sadly (or not), working on Capitol Hill dispelled my youthful naiveté: all politicians are cut out of the same egomaniacal, duplicitous cloth. :(
That's right, I forgot you were an intern. That was a good experience for you. Take care of yourself and be safe.
Aunt Kay
Amen to that last line! Also to Kay's wonderful comments - it was a great moment in history!
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