First, let me say that I have just come back from a wonderful dinner at a New Orleans Style restaurant in Gainesville celebrating our big win last night. I was in a joyous mood, because, you know, we're national champions (again
), and I get to see some improv comedy later tonight. And then, wanting to kill time before the comedy show, I got on the computer and was somehow drawn, as if in a trance, straight to this thread.
And now my joy is gone.
Winnie, to give you the most direct of an answer as I can: The reason why so many people believe President-Elect Obama is inheriting a "mess" is because most humans have short term memories; like memories lasting up to 8 years. We had a budget surplus once, now we don't. We were relatively safe (at least we thought we were) and now we're not. When we looked into the international mirror, we saw a kind and just nation that had the world's best interest in mind, I still see this reflection, but unfortunately most of the international community does not.
Obama is not inheriting a "mess," he's inheriting a catastrophic quandary that has no simple or direct solutions-God help him. President Bush didn't cause all of our problems, nor could he have prevented many of them, but there has been a massive leadership vacuum since our Invasion of Iraq. The reason why you felt secure, confident, and glad that George W. Bush was elected President on September 11th, 2001, was because our President showed up and led that day, and the few days that followed.
Fulltime, I can't really take your word on your preeminence over all things New Orleans since the only thing I know about you is your posting name "fulltime." But while giving money to NO may not seem like the prudent or fiscally responsible thing to do in the aftermath of a calamitous hurricane, it does shore up any lingering physiological wounds. Imagine that instead of President Bush making a heroic return to Ground Zero shortly after the 9/11 attacks, he simply circled over the city a few days afterward in AF1, and then made a brief speech a month later promising federal help and attention, and then not keeping that full promise. I don't think Winnie would have been entirely comforted by the President then. She would have probably preferred Al Gore and a speech on the dangers of CF's in the atmosphere.
There are times for state solutions, and there are times for national solutions. We're in a crisis right now, and it's something that one state won't be able to solve on its own, nor is it a crisis that demands a revolution, nor a crisis where we can afford to simply sit back and let things go the way they've gone all in the name of a conservative ideology, rather than the realism of pragmatism. We're going need big government and we're going to need someone to hold our hand for a while. We'll be lucky if we get to mock the nobel winning economists today who ascribe to the keysnian view, and then get to decide whether continue down the perilous path of apathy once again.
Folks, we have 10 days, 13 hours, and four minutes to figure out who's to blame. But after that, this young person is going to demand that for my generation's sake, we begin to look for the solutions on how we can help our neighbors, and ultimately ourselves.
And I'm late for the Improv.
