Today is the real start of the new year, with a new president in office and a lot of hope and promise. I feel very proud today, optimistic, but I can't quite get the dread out of my mind.

Bush was truly a terrible president. Political speech on blogs is given to hyperbole, but I don't know what else to say. Bush was challenged by a terrorist attack and failed miserably, botching the occupation of Afghanistan, destroying important civil liberties, and turning us into a nation of torturers. Bush led us into war on Iraq under false pretenses and failed there, too. Domestically he failed New Orleans and his financial policies have failed the country. New Orleans may never recover, let's hope our economy does better.

Obama ran on a campaign of hope and change. Lord knows we need it. But given the shit sandwich he's inherited we're bound to be disappointed. We can't just bail on Iraq and Afghanistan. Gay rights will move slowly. The economy is in awfully bad shape and will take years to recover. Health insurance and income taxes both need radical overhaul, problems that have been slowly burning for twenty years. We've got a long way to go, but at least we finally have some hope at the top.

politics
  2009-01-20 18:59 Z