Got Moxie!

Barack-ing for Obama

Guest blogger, Carolyn Ride, gets the vapors while watching some political thingy happening on the other side of the world…

Call me schmaltzy (because I am, plus it’s a great word), but it was hard not to be inspired by Wednesday’s inauguration of 44^th US President. 1.8 million people were there in Washington to watch President Barack Hussein Obama address the nation from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Billions more worldwide watched it on TV.

Of course, you know this already. Like me, you might have watched the whole thing on TV, then all the news reports showing the highlights. I have to mention it again because I was amazed at how Obama’s speech, while not perfect, touched all the bases for where people are at (in America and the rest of the world). Yes, I know it was written by a speechwriter, not Obama himself. Yes, the frequent references to God, God bless us all, Scripture and God bless America were a little creepy. They were for me at least. I’d probably be the atheist in the foxhole. Thank someone (but not God) there was one little mention of unbelievers being part of the nation.

I still got chills though. I was reminded that day why, despite all the evil America commits at home and abroad, the country’s ideals ring out to billions of people around the world. Obama’s speech reaffirmed all those ideals while acknowledging the crises of economy, environment and war that threaten them. Even the all-American emotive patriotism was a welcome change from the endless realpolitik we’ve slogged through the past decade.

Luckily for me, I can always find something to whinge about in the midst of the best circumstances. My whinges are the following:

• The bloody awful boring celebrity guest appearances. On Wednesday, you could have looted all the swankiest neighbourhoods in LA and no-one would have noticed. Why? Because they were all in Washington doing bad covers. No, I don’t want to lean on Mary J Blige. When I hear political speechmaking, I don’t want it to be from Tom Hanks. And though I love U2, someone should have told Bono it wasn’t his inauguration.

• I’m glad Obama, not Clinton, is the new President. I’m no personal fan of either of the Clintons, but there’s no denying that the criticism of Hillary during the election was as much sexist as policy-based. Now Michelle Obama is the first lady. Though she’s an Ivy League graduate ex-lawyer who used to be Obama’s mentor, it seems her most important decision so far has been the outfits she wore to the inauguration and the inauguration balls. Now there’s all sorts of breathless commentary about how she’ll redecorate the White House. What kind of mother is she? Is she sufficiently devoted to Obama? How will she, like, stay so stylish? It all makes me nostalgic for Bill Clinton’s promise that you ‘get two for the price of one’. Finally, America has shown it’s ready for a black President. I don’t think it’s nearly ready for a female one. I doubt it’s even willing to let Michelle Obama use her formidable guts and intelligence for more than invigorating dinner parties. Maybe the US will one day follow the lead of more gender-blind countries. Like, um, Pakistan (one female President who, if not assassinated, might have been re-elected) or the Phillipines (two female Presidents). Hell, even Ireland has had two female Presidents, and they had the most repressive abortion laws in Europe.

• Oh yeah. Rick Warren, who compared being gay to pedophilia, leading the pre-inauguration prayer. Bridge-building is admirable, but that was a bridge too far.

Overall, though, almost nothing can ruin my warm inner glow from the inauguration of America’s 44^th President. Just give Michelle a real and important job, tell the Hollywood hangers-on they’re on salary cap from now on, and deliver America and the world from this recession in an environmentally responsible way. That’s all I ask of Obama really. I’ll keep Barack-ing for him.

Carolyn Ride is a writer, reviewer and editor who loves to vacuum.

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