Hope

George W. Bush Jr’s presidency – and rhetoric – plays like a blooper reel out of a bad B-grade political film. Except that this is reality, and the scary truth of it is, the man who said “you teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test” ran what is arguably the world’s superpower for the last eight years (can anyone believe he won a second term?) Bush may have unintentionally entertained us, year after year, with his long list of quotes such as "Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?", his ducking of shoe missiles, his coining of words such as “internets,” introducing the APEC summit as the OPEC summit, but his policy, such as the war in Iraq, is no joke.

An article in Time summed it up well: “OK, but didn’t [Bush] do anything right? Well, he came up with serious money to treat AIDS and malaria in Africa. He used the bully pulpit to embrace Muslims in the great post-9/11 American bear hug, when there was a real danger of the opposite reaction. And you could say that Bush’s disastrous presidency vindicates democracy. Let’s not forget that, in 2000, more people voted for the other guy.” (Essay, Michael Kinsley)

God. It is really too bad we didn’t have that other guy.

However, I suspect that, behind the buffoonery, Bush – like fellow Republican Sarah Palin – is a good person, a devoted parent, and a patriotic American. Unfortunately, good leaders and good people are too rarely the same person.

Hopefully, we can look forward to both in Obama.

I watched - like millions around the world - Obama's inauguration speech. While it wasn't quite as inspirational or as uplifting as his victory speech, and may have lacked a catchphrase, a central, ideological quote that summed it up, like FDR's "the only thing we have reason to fear is fear itself" and JFK's "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country," that's not to say it wasn't optimistic, determined and empowering. And so what if he mucked up the oath a little? I've always thought that the way they say, in such long sentences, much be hard to be remember. He's only human, after all - he's not the Messiah.

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

The time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the fire fighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate."

But let’s be straight about one thing. It would do us well to remember that Obama is half-black. That is not to question or undermine that he is black, but only to point out that Obama’s background has arguably been a mostly white one. Does that make him any less black? Perhaps, in some people’s eyes. But more than anything we should celebrate that he is of mixed race. Like the young boy Nulla in Australia, who is accepted by neither whites nor Aboriginal because he is both, is it not those of mixed race who are, at least not so long ago, shunned by both? So it is not of greater significance, then, that Obama, being not black or white but both, should be able to unite all Americans, black, white, alike?

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JAG