Too Good to be True
I’m having some strange feelings about recent events that are beyond my wildest dreams. Events such as the Phillies winning the World Series and now the Eagles are poised to go to the Super Bowl. I have the odd feeling that the Eagles will take it all this year. It’s odd because it feels good, and perhaps I don’t know what feeling good is really like.
I also feel good about the impending inauguration of Barack Obama, with one caveat. I, like many other Americans, am investing a lot of faith in his capabilities and goals. I wish him all the luck in the world with fixing our problems, and I’m ready to do my part to make his solutions succeed. Despite all this, I can’t help wondering if we’re getting our hopes too high.
The left leaning media are absolutely in love with Obama, which pundits on the right have sternly pointed out for months. Writers for Saturday Night Live saw the trend last summer, before Obama was even nominated. One sketch about a debate between Obama and Hillary Clinton showed the moderators fawning over him and ignoring her. The comic strip Mallard Fillmore also raised the issue with a Secret Service agent ready to pounce on a television reporter who was ready to “smooch” the President-elect.
Then there is the strange case of Obama the Magic Negro. The song surfaced earlier last year when Rush Limbaugh played it on his show, raising a storm of controversy. (Note to Rush: you need to work on your playlist. Have you tried classic rock?) Critics decried the song as racist; fans of the song claim it is satire.
GOP leaders denounced the song recently when it appeared on a CD collection of satirical holiday songs sent to members of the party for Christmas. Did its use of the passé term "negro" make it racist? Perhaps. Was it satire? No, it wasn’t that funny, but it still raised an interesting point about the media’s attitude toward Barack Obama.
Damn! I hate it when right-wing conservatives have a valid point.
Obama shows every sign of being a very capable, deliberative leader who is willing to work with the other side to get this country going in the right direction again. Still, we must remember he is just one man. He doesn’t have magical powers, and I have yet to hear any reports that he is able to walk on water. He will not be able to solve our problems single-handedly, to which he referred recently when he said that everyone will have to sacrifice.
We must not set the bar too high for him. The recession will not go away in his first 100 days as President. It will take time for his solutions, if enacted, to have any effect on the global economy. We, as a people, will need to show patience with him and, for that matter, Congress.
We must resist the notion in 100 days time to turn against him if our problems are still with us. If we do oppose him at that point, then we have no one to blame but ourselves for getting our hopes too high in the first place. Many of Barack Obama’s ideas sound too good to be true, but they might just work. He will still need time to prove them to everyone.
I also feel good about the impending inauguration of Barack Obama, with one caveat. I, like many other Americans, am investing a lot of faith in his capabilities and goals. I wish him all the luck in the world with fixing our problems, and I’m ready to do my part to make his solutions succeed. Despite all this, I can’t help wondering if we’re getting our hopes too high.
The left leaning media are absolutely in love with Obama, which pundits on the right have sternly pointed out for months. Writers for Saturday Night Live saw the trend last summer, before Obama was even nominated. One sketch about a debate between Obama and Hillary Clinton showed the moderators fawning over him and ignoring her. The comic strip Mallard Fillmore also raised the issue with a Secret Service agent ready to pounce on a television reporter who was ready to “smooch” the President-elect.
Then there is the strange case of Obama the Magic Negro. The song surfaced earlier last year when Rush Limbaugh played it on his show, raising a storm of controversy. (Note to Rush: you need to work on your playlist. Have you tried classic rock?) Critics decried the song as racist; fans of the song claim it is satire.
GOP leaders denounced the song recently when it appeared on a CD collection of satirical holiday songs sent to members of the party for Christmas. Did its use of the passé term "negro" make it racist? Perhaps. Was it satire? No, it wasn’t that funny, but it still raised an interesting point about the media’s attitude toward Barack Obama.
Damn! I hate it when right-wing conservatives have a valid point.
Obama shows every sign of being a very capable, deliberative leader who is willing to work with the other side to get this country going in the right direction again. Still, we must remember he is just one man. He doesn’t have magical powers, and I have yet to hear any reports that he is able to walk on water. He will not be able to solve our problems single-handedly, to which he referred recently when he said that everyone will have to sacrifice.
We must not set the bar too high for him. The recession will not go away in his first 100 days as President. It will take time for his solutions, if enacted, to have any effect on the global economy. We, as a people, will need to show patience with him and, for that matter, Congress.
We must resist the notion in 100 days time to turn against him if our problems are still with us. If we do oppose him at that point, then we have no one to blame but ourselves for getting our hopes too high in the first place. Many of Barack Obama’s ideas sound too good to be true, but they might just work. He will still need time to prove them to everyone.
posted by todd gunther | 6:54 PM
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