An allegory of change, the world believes Obama will make sweeping changes to both the local economy and the political image of America overseas. The illusion of faith has led them to believe with religious fervor that a new president that defies everything they stood for will defy all odds and deliver their prayers. The single two most important issues Americans choose to candidates upon are 1. the war of Iraq 2. the economy. Without arrogance or condescension, let me just say that the average American does not understand the absurdity of their voting mindset. Majority of the populace blame the staggering economic fall out on the Bush administration. Democrats will add deceitfully that Bush is the bastion of the GOP and to a large extent that is true but consider this — politicking is in the hands of a selected few who deliberately or otherwise, push their own agenda, beliefs and doctrines infiltrating national policy. It was unfortunate that Bush and co had such a resolute belief in warconomy. But I cannot emphasize enough that it was only the belief of those leaders, and that it does not represent the general opinion of republicans at large.
But I digress. Going back to my original point, Americans ( and the world at large ) expect that Obama is the panacea to all our maladies. Like naive children, they expect that in the wink of an eye President Obama can garner our boys back and with a snap of his fingers economic growth will hit 70%. Tragically they fail however, to understand that Obama cannot and therefore will not stop the unjust war in Iraq immediately. This is unfortunately because the military is a bureaucracy and thanks to the red tape that strangles much effort, the manner of getting things done is as flimsy as paperchase. The sad truth is also that Iraq is a pandora box that was opened reluctantly and must be close. Lets reminisce. Just when Bush took over, there was september 11th which fucked up wall street and everyone else. America declares war on Afghanistan, pissing off the Arab world ( racist they accused ) and of course OPEC starts to jack up the oil prices. Everyone gets screwed over again and the rest is history. Iraq came as a result of this oil manipulation and before you know it everyone’s hatin on Bush. Firstly I don’t really see how any of this really is directly caused by Bush. September 11th was to be blamed on arab terrorists and to a lesser extent, to Clinton and past presidents for the inaction they took when overseas Americans were attacked upon. None of the presidents in office during the assorted attacks on the USS Cole in Yemen,the US embassy in Beirut and Nairobi. Amazingly, nothing was done and out of the chaos and American docility, september 11th was born. How then, can you blame Bush for reacting like he did? He reacted proportionately to what happened in New York City and also for what happened in the past. This is how foreign polcy works. Fear is integral to keeping national security. Terror and its assorted forms must be employed to gain a leverage.
Next, the economy. I will be the first to admit that warconomy has dealt a massive blow to America and its financial patrons. But to blame it all on Bush is only ignorant and unfair. Economists speak of the 7 years cycle, akin to the biblical story of Joseph’s predictions of 7 good years and 7 bad. Things are different these days. Economic power is slowly tilting towards the east and the EU is slowly sinking into recession while wall street is flailing. The sad fact of the matter is that, recession comes and go. Nothing is forever and wealth like everything else in life, is fleeting. Bush isn’t to blame for recession, investors get jittery when America, the bastion of security gets attacked like that. Oil goes up because OPEC plays the race card and accuses the greater West as being racist on the Iraq war. At the onset of more petrodollar, Riyadh donates $300 million dollars to fundamentalist madrassahs in South East Asia. Consumers are not buying. People don’t feel like driving the malls when gas is so expensive and the public transportation rates, when available climb higher. Nobody feels like eating out because food prices are going up triggered by oil inflation. Consumption falls and the economy gets worse.Its a vicious cycle and it all leads back to september 11th which was the sole responsibility of terrorists. So my point is, try as I may I don’t see how Bush is absolutely to be blamed for this mayhem. He was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the right things for a nation in a wrong mindset.
I am anticipating what changes Obama will bring about. How he will magically exorcize the stupor out of a sluggish economy too afraid to spend. But if there is one thing I wish people would understand, it is that the system never changes. Its always the same people who are in power, the same people who have it all established for them, the same people who have familial links to influence. Wealthy politicians who are so remote from the layman with their heads so far in the clouds that they will never truly understand. I guess thats why people voted for Obama, because they think his upbringing was different from other presidents. Because he represents the common people. Because his family ties are far from sang bleu. But look closer and the similarities are jarring and the differences, minimal. Rahm Emmanuel reminds me a lot of Richard Perl and not just because they are both very prominent figures in the Jewish lobby and strong Israel partisans. In the end, inspite of all he stands for Obama remains a product of the system. Let me put it in perspective : how many Americans are Harvard grads? Barack’s father was Kenyan and his upbringing in both Hawaii and Jakarta was as far as it can get away from the archetypal American; how many even have passports much less lived overseas? Don’t front, the answer is “a record high of 21%” according to a survey done by Yale. Don’t believe me, check it out yourself.
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6553
At the risk of sounding too socialist, power is in the laps of the wealthy. The tobacco company still has a lot of clout, as do the oil lobby, the jewish lobby, OPEC and the firearms lobby. The Iraq war will still continue without a definite end in sight, the Arab bloc will continue to hate on America or try to ally themselves with the one president who has had muslim roots obscure as they are, Russia will feel slighted in all this presidential campaign attention and threaten to invade a random soviet satellite state somewhere and oil prices will increase during winter/summer and plummet during fall.The economy will improve because 2008 marks the end of the 7 years cycle starting from 2001for obvious reasons. I’m not a soothsayer but my point is politics is quite predictable and streamlined according to the most rational choice a national entity can make.
Don’t wait for a Godot that may never come.
Postscript: I’m sure youl have lots to say about this especially if you’re an Obama voter/supporter but please I implore you to be eloquent if not coherent in your rebuttal. Infantile and deranged responses as well as personal insults will be read and published for all to witness the travesty of immature, defamatory writing. Also, anyone who suspects I am ant-semetic, racist or hate Islam is plainly ridiculous and very well mistaken.
(((
