Pollyanna
I have a bad feeling. A terrible, blackening feeling in my stomach.
This is not because Barack Obama was just elected to be next president of the United States. For a man who is not optimistic enough to believe good, honest politicians can exist in any political system, even I think this is fantastic news. It was a photo-finish for him, but it says to me that a little more than half of the U.S. does not crave oblivion quite as much as I’d been led to believe in the last 8 years.
And right now, at this very moment, I am listening to the Mother (Earthbound Zero) Vocal soundtrack, one of the more upbeat collections of music that exists. I should not be this cynical, when I am surrounded by lyrics such as “I believe a pot of gold waits at every rainbow’s end”. And yet this feeling of twisting, persistent dread remains.
I know the power that the baby-boomer, heartland racist dollar holds in the U.S. I know how the southern states voted in this election. Nearly half of the U.S. voted for McCain, and I’m sure those are some very upset people right about now. I also know that assasination attempts on Obama’s life are already being foiled. And as history has shown, the only people who tend to get assassinated are people who probably didn’t deserve it.
Counterpoint: All of those people, regardless of their flaws or mistakes, are now regarded as some of the finer people in human history. So if Obama does meet a premature end such as this, then the radical white supremacists and other opponents of him won’t exactly have the last laugh. If anything, it would make him into a revered legend that inspires the change he so often claims he wants to bring to his country, and to the world.
“The tyrant dies, his reign ends. The martyr dies, his reign begins“.
Still, I can’t shake the feeling that from some unseen shadow, someone, somewhere is going to take this opportunity for improvement, drop the knife, and ruin it for everyone but themselves. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be an assassination. Maybe Bush will pull some Ceasar-type bullshit “emergency powers” and maintain control forever. He’d do it too. As the last 8 years have shown us, the man is willing to go through with actions that only benefit him, even if they’re highly illegal or unconstitutional.
I am often wrong, on many things, on many subjects. I’ve never hoped to be more wrong in my life. It might be silly for me to be concerned about this, since I’m Canadian, and we had an election not too long ago. But they don’t call the President of the U.S. the “most powerful man in the world” for a sense of inflated, patriotic self-esteem. These people inherently shape the world, for better or(usually) worse. Much more than a cyborg and a frenchman who actually managed to come off looking like a sillier choice for a leader than Jean Chrétien.
My neighbours have been through enough shit in the last decade. They’re not the brightest crayons in the box, but they deserve an honest, intelligent and capable leader for once. I hope they’ll finally have one.
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~A.H.
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