Yet another coronation

Today, January 20th, will see one more celebratory insanity that is called inauguration. Many millions of taxpayer dollars will be squandered on a set of pompous, hyped events that are to celebrate a political victory. I wrote much the same just 4 years ago about W's REelection inauguration, titled A Great and Ugly Farce. Oh yes... that was a huge celebration as well, put on by the winners of that election, and turned into a magnificent occurrence by a fawning media and all those people who had invested in that candidate's victory, plus those who thought that joining in might benefit them over the next four years.

This inauguration is even more insane. First, our nation is suffering a recession that makes taxpayer-funded political celebration criminal. Rather than understand that two equally-guilty parties have put us in this mess, we have again bought a bill of goods... that only they can save us from ourselves. Obama, like all previous first-time Presidents, is the Messiah who can lead us down the primrose path.

Sure, this one is a bit different. He looks black, and is called black, as if that should be significant. While we all say that race shouldn't be significant, those most emphatic in claiming so are now obsessing on the fact that Obama will be our first "Black American" President. I'm curious... is it because he looks black, or because he's half white? His color makes no difference to me; if it does to you, isn't that an indication of racial bias? Voting for Obama because he's black was as insane, and irrelevant as voting for someone else because he was white. If being black, or calling oneself black, is significant, why did Obama choose an old white man as a running mate? If his election signals some sort of racial breakthrough, shouldn't he have chosen a black running mate, or at least a mixed-race person? The choice was his to make.

I voted for a white man (Bob Barr) but I voted for the principles he stood for. He could have been purple and it wouldn't have changed my vote. Obama promised CHANGE. He was, like most politicians, extremely vague about what change, but he promised it with great style and charm, and a toothy smile that is hypnotic. He gave none of us any clear reason to oppose him, because he said nothing to object to. His was the most controlled pablum of any politician I can remember.

I don't know what Obama will do in office, but I do understand what it took for him to get where he is now, and that in itself is extremely discouraging. Much of the path to higher office lies in doing exactly what is expected by your party and supporters. You don't get there by rocking the boat, and you don't get there by implementing CHANGE, unless change means "even more of the same". That's what I expect from President Obama... even more of the same policies that have driven this nation into dire economic straits and made us an enemy of most of the world.

As with all newly-elected politicians, Obama and his party will bombard us with incessant propaganda that the media will parrot with glee, with the result that, irregardless of what he does as President, those who supported him will be able to find a way to excuse the results. Others will be blamed... Bush, the Congress, trouble-makers from around the world, greedy corporations, etc.

What I worry about over the next few years is full-scale economic depression and what that would mean politically. Economically, the U.S. can recover if the government allows us to do so, but continued manipulation in the form of bail-outs, increased spending, inflationary policies, and continued war could drive us right into the tank. There is good reason to expect all that from Obama, with pretense that those are necessary stopgap measures. Politically, Obama is more like FDR than any previous President (the Lincoln comparison is completely off-the-wall) and FDR used the Depression to huge political advantage, rewriting common history in the process.

I hope I can look back in 4 years and accuse myself of having been cynical in what I wrote today. Only time will tell, but my advice to all those who are today yearning for Obama as Savior is... enjoy your blinded faith today; reality will resume tomorrow.