Post-Inaugural Hangover

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Yesterday was an incredible day as Millions of people gathered in Washington D.C. to watch the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Millions more watched the inauguration and the inaugural balls that followed on television and the Internet. As I sit here the day after the inauguration I am reminded of the recent South Park episode about the post-election fallout. Of course both sides widely overreacted to the election of Obama and chaos and hilarity ensued in classic South Park fashion. The Obama supporters partied in the streets and spoke of how everything was going to change. The McCain supporters hid in a cave expecting the election of Obama to bring about the Apocalypse. The truth of the matter is that even if Obama truly is the once in a generation leader that many of his supporters believe he will be, his being elected will not magically change the course of the country. Although for a split second during the inauguration I wondered if he was indeed magical. I was watching ABC and one of the commentators suddenly seemed surprised and mentioned how some of the people were walking on the water. They did not quite understand how it was possible. Of course it was pointed out that the water was frozen, but for a brief moment one of the ABC analysts seemed to believe that the Obama magic had helped his supporters to be able to walk on water.

It will likely be a long arduous struggle to attempt to change the track we are currently on and the outcome is not certain even if Obama lives up to all the expectations we have for him. Sometimes circumstances ruin even the noblest of plans or people. Lyndon Johnson planned to introduce the Great Society which he hoped would do for his legacy what the New Deal did for FDR. Of course Vietnam ended up nixing Johnson’s plans and he instead went down as one of the least popular Presidents in modern times. FDR of course was also President during World War II so war played a huge part in histories view of him as well. Sure if you are not a big fan of the New Deal or the idea that government can work for people instead of merely just being a hindrance to their success you may not have had a strong opinion of Johnson anyway, but he would have been thought of in an entirely different light if Vietnam had not played such a central role in his Presidency. Yes that is mainly his fault, but Vietnam was already on the fast track well before Johnson came into office, although he was responsible for escalating it to a whole new awful level and thus his legacy will forever be tarnished by Vietnam.

Putting aside for the moment that President Obama will almost certainly face great challenges, including but not limited to the current financial crisis, yesterday was a proud day to be a citizen of the United States of America. People from countries all over the world were once again envious of America. You can scoff at that if you like, but whether you like it or not much of the world’s opinion on our nation has changed dramatically with the election of Obama. If you were unable to fully appreciate the inauguration and all that it meant I feel sorry for you. Sure some of you who did not enjoy it are staunch Republicans and I can understand that to some extent. You probably view Obama’s election as a huge pothole on the road paved by Ronald Reagan, William Buckley and the conservative movement. It makes sense that you would look at his election and be alarmed that the country is headed in a new direction. Hope for you likely means a disastrous first four years of the Obama administration, but if our country has another four years similar to or worse than the last eight we will all be worse off because of it. If Obama has a successful eight years this does not mean the Conservative movement is dead for the foreseeable future. After Reagan’s eight years it looked bleak for the Democrats, but George H. W. Bush was not able to capitalize on that enough to win a second term. Therefore eight years of Obama may lead to a lesser Democrat winning one term, but if he or she cannot continue that momentum the American voter will have no problem voting for the opposition party. Of course even eight successful years of Obama does not mean a Democrat will be elected if there is no one who is seen as a close enough ally of Obama running for office. Biden may be too old at that point so it remains to be seen. Sure that is way off in the future and no one knows what will happen before then, but my point was that it is in everyone’s best interest to hope Obama and to a greater extent America succeed over the next few years. Sure if you are a Republican it may mean a few more tough years ahead, but ultimately if Obama succeeds so does America.

So while attempting to extend an olive branch to our fellow Americans who are upset by Obama’s election mostly because they are Republicans and he is a Democrat, I would like to take a few moments to speak about a more disturbing group of Obama bashers. I want to make it clear that I do not think everyone who voted against or who still does not support Obama feels this way, but unfortunately there are a fairly sizeable minority who took this opportunity to make jokes about our new President’s race or to make fun of him for being a Muslim even though he is not. I am a staunch supporter of free speech so I respect their right to say these hateful things. Also I am a huge fan of comedy whether it is offensive or not. My problem is that many of these people are not merely just making harmless jokes at Obama’s expense, but that many of them truly despise Obama solely because he has brown skin. Some even believe, despite no evidence to support their belief, that he is a secret Muslim. I understand that uneducated or ignorant people use limited negative experiences they have had with minorities and extrapolate that to an entire race of people, but if you actually watched President Obama yesterday or at any other time and found a reason to include him in your narrow-minded stereotypes about minorities or people with black or brown skin than you are beyond hope. Sure you can say he is the exception that proves the rule which of course makes no sense because it would not be a rule if there was an obvious exception to it nor would an exception prove something to be a rule. That is like saying that one white basketball player being able to jump proves the rule that white people can’t jump. It doesn’t of course it instead proves that although stereotypes are sometimes useful, relying on them too much and failing to look at each person on a case by case basis is lazy and ignorant.

Bill Clinton is another example of someone who is an exception to a stereotype. He was the product of a single parent family from Arkansas. Sure you could try to write him off as a redneck, but because of his superior intellect he was able to attend prestigious schools such as Yale. He also became the governor of Arkansas and leader of the most powerful nation on Earth. Sure he has many faults, but that is not really the point. It is easy to mock him for having a taste for McDonalds cheeseburgers or chubby women, but although this makes him easy to mock you cannot dismiss him as a dumb redneck. I know everyone will say, but wait why is it alright to make fun of Clinton for chasing women and eating McDonalds, but not alright to make fun of Obama. Well I did not say you could not do it, but what made Darrel Hammond’s impression of Clinton so great is that it is an exaggeration of the man, but there is some truth to the exaggeration. If you want to insert Obama’s name into some offensive racist almost madlib-like jokes they won’t work as well as there is little to no truth behind them. Sure people who share your limited worldview may get a kick out of it, but since the only thing Obama has in common with your stereotype of black people is his skin color your jokes will ultimately be lacking for anyone with even the slightest ability to use reason.

Enough with the ranting about race and prejudice I understand that like the General said in the movie Cool Hand Luke “some men you just can’t reach”. One of the great things about our new President is that he does not seem to believe that. He thinks he can reach everyone and maybe to a fault at times he tries hard to reach a consensus even when he does not need to do so. He could probably get much of what he wants to get accomplished by relying on the Democratic majority in Congress and getting a few Republicans to cross over here and there depending on the issue, but he instead has made a point of reaching out to Republicans. Sure it is just the beginning of his Presidency and there is much to be learned about Obama and of course the office of the Presidency may change him in the coming years, but it is reasonable to be hopeful based on what we have seen and heard so far.

I had previously discussed the anticipation of the inauguration and the what the television coverage of the inauguration would most likely look like by the major networks and the twenty four hour news networks. If you are interested click the link Obama Inauguration Nearing

Update I have a new blog and I have a new Obama post at the new blog http://www.dickness.com/2009/01/27/inauguration-a-day-in-pictures/

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