100 Days

Personally, I wasn't counting. But the media has made it impossible not to notice that Barack Obama has been President for 100 days. I guess it gives them something to talk about. A way to justify their existence. So I may as well chime in.

I am proud of my country for electing a black man President. It took imagination and guts. The bigots are still reeling. They may never get over it. And I for one am getting tired of listening to their carrying on about everything Obama does. The way the right wing tells it, this man never does anything right. Every single thing he does is wrong, un-American, un-Godly, and probably part of a larger conspiracy to undermine the American way of life.

Personally, I can't wait for all Americans to have health care. I like the stimulus program. And Obama's overtures to hostile world leaders give me reason to hope for world peace. I'm delighted with every one of Bush's executive orders that he has reversed, and I couldn't be happier that we won't be torturing prisoners or detaining them unlawfully anymore.

I'm not particularly happy about Afghanistan, but I don't know what is to be done about the Taliban and Al-Qaida. The thought of those fanatics having a nuclear weapon is chilling to say the least.

I'm also dismayed by the bailouts, though I don't understand the problem well enough to say for certain what the alternative would be.

But the latest ranting about the good old USA becoming just like Europe, as if that would be such a terrible thing, just strikes me as laughable. And if I find something to laugh about, well then it's a pretty good day.

Obama Drama

Yesterday I heard Obama called a Fascist and a Socialist in the same conversation. They called him everything but an American. They were so angry and escalated, you didn't dare attempt conversation, it would just have been a huge fight. Pointless in all regards. I guess it's understandable. The right is not used to losing elections. Their party is in disarray. They're scared that their way of life is under attack. Glenn Beck is their spokesman. Oh dear. I mean, what can you say? What do you call it? The politics of pee your pants terrified?

Meanwhile they are stocking up on assault weapons because they're afraid somebody is going to try to take them away from them. Though Obama says he has no intention of re-instituting the ban. And Socialist is the new nasty.

I'm concerned about the bailouts too. I think we all are. But the stimulus package just isn't socialism, not by a long shot. Although in a country where capitalism has gone so far wrong, a little injection of socialism wouldn't hurt anything.

But when that old pendulum swings the other way, people sure do panic.

Letter From Darfur

Dear President Obama,

Today in Darfur the water trucks didn't come. The rice is running low. And people are getting a crazy look in their eyes. My mother put her arms around me, and her hands were shaking. She said I should stay close by. I started to feel afraid. But then I saw your picture on a wall nearby. You were smiling. And my father says you are a very powerful man. He says you are the most powerful man in the whole world. So I am thinking you will come to Darfur and help us. But please hurry.

A child in Darfur