miercuri, 21 ianuarie 2009

Obama Drama

I watched Obama´s speech yesterday in the evening at 18:00 Berlin time. I was with some of my colleagues in the German Language Course and we went to the Self-Learning Center at the Language Institute because they have some TV sets there.
Here are my impressions about Obama´s confirmation:
-while I was following his speech I heard some laughters in the headphones, for now I can´t explain to myself which was the source of those laughters
-we three were watching CNN and our German Lehrerin a German news channel. The German TV channel displayed at a certain moment slow-motion pictures of the former president Bush, you piece of shit, alone on his way to the official place of the inaugural ceremony. I really liked this, seeing Bush alone without advisors, wifes, Republican colleagues, security guards. He seemed so fragile, but so annoying.
-in his speech I think Obama put some emphasis on the environment issues. He repeated his ideas.
-I liked the idea of unclenched fists: " To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
-I noticed that he announced he will follow the same principle of the single-superpower system. I would have expected from him to speak more on international co-operation and solidarity. Here I got really disappointed as he insisted on the same line of the well known arrogance of the US politicians
-His inaugural speech is not that wichtig, because his actions will be observed. Of course, some people, I include myself here, expected for some strong sound bites, as announcing a policy change. But let us wait for his measures and the way in which the Obama Team will cope with the hardships.
-as a beginner in anarchism, I would have expected to hint at some social and political measures he would support in order to reshape the dying liberal democracy. But he didn´t mention anything about this.
-anyway he didn´t sound like a socialist, unless you think of the Lowery Benediction:
Help us then, now, Lord, to work for that day when nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, when tanks will be beaten into tractors,
when every man and every woman shall sit under his or her own vine
and fig tree, and none shall be afraid; when justice will roll down like
waters and righteousness as a mighty stream.
But this of course was taken from the Bible and wasn´t uttered by himself.
-after his speech I saw the extremely happy face of one of his top advisors, Rahm Emanuel. I remember this because I immediately associated the image with Satan trying to lure Jesus into sin in Mel Gibson´s "The Passion of the Christ"

The thing is that it may look impossible for him doing all people expect from him only in his four years of presidency. The burden seems so heavy that it may take 8 years as well for him to handle all the problems. The major risk is for him to fail achieving his goals. With a slowly increasing number of US citizens growing distrustful of the government affairs, can you even image what would happen if Obama fails? Either a long rule of the Republicans, either the complete shut-down of democracy. Moreover let us not forget he promised he would speak within the first 100 days of his presidency about the Middle East conflict and the solutions he would propose.

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