I was kind of happy after Obama was elected thinking that I’d be able to relax a little, turn the news back on, because the hope thing that a lot of people were so inspired by was contagious. The outrage fatigue I’d had for the prior eight years was getting old. Oh, okay, I have to fess up here; turn the news back on isn’t really accurate because, in spite of outrage fatigue, I didn’t ever really turn the news off – I’m a junkie.
I remember saying in response to the hope thing that was the theme of the Obama campaign, “I don’t need hope, I need someone to get shit done.”
So here we are one year later and a little of the luster is off of the Obama presidency. Whether or not I agree with him on specific policy issues, I do admire the fact that he treats us as if we are adults, which perhaps is more than we deserve. He doesn’t do the “don’t worry your pretty little head” routine, but acknowledges that the issues we face have no easy fix.
We’ve given too much for too long to the experts. Why? Because it’s easier. When bad things happen our first response seems to be to pass a law. If we could, I have no doubt that we’d wave a magic wand. Unfortunately, they don’t exist. Life isn’t easy, life isn’t smooth, life is – messy.
But what I want to say is – I think that’s a good thing.
I’ve written in other posts that I do believe we are in the midst of a revolution. It might not look that way because this isn’t a revolution of throwing things over – this is a revolution of taking things back.
