One More Week till Sanity

Only one more week until BBO ends and ABO begins.

BBA? Before Barack Obama. You can guess the second one.

I am known for overstating things. My enthusiasm sometimes carries away my invective and I am prone to superlatives. This is a fault that I recognize and try to contain.

Sorry, not this time.

I do not believe it is an overstatement that this inauguration represents a turning point, not just in American History, but Human History. (Superlative enough?)

I plan to tell the next generation how we lived through the "dark times." How we endured the worst eight years in American history. How I lived during the seemingly "dark ages" of discrimination and injustice represented in Prop 8. And of how we survived.

President Bush likes to say that history will judge his administration, and I agree. I just don't think it will be in the way he imagines. I believe that his legacy will get worse with time, not better.

Beyond all the screw-ups, all the things we know they fucked up, like Iraq, the Economy, Katrina (should have been impeached for that one), wiretapping, etc etc etc, and the ones we don't know they fucked up, which will probably come out for years to come - stands the things the Bush administration did not do.

We just lost eight years. Eight years that could have been spent fighting global warming, preparing the economy for the shift to green fuels, building green infrastructure, investing in science and education and in our children. We can't ever get those eight years back. And that's the real tragedy.

Because time really is running out on this planet and on our species. Al Gore understated things, and many owe him a serious apology. The convergence of global warming, global overcrowding and the rise of the global middle class has, as Tom Friedman has pointed out, placed the world in crisis. We need bold leadership. Yesterday. Or we may not have much more time left.

That's reason #1 that I think Barack is such a big deal. He has the opportunity to lead at a time when leadership is needed more than ever. He has the respect of the international community at a time when international cooperation is crucial to the success of our species going forward. He has the charisma and personality to capture the imagination of the world, and remains living proof that anyone, no matter their upbringing, has the potential to be great.

This is a singular moment in human history, and Barack Obama will be the leader of the world during these next critical years. The decisions he makes will have profound consequences, not just for this generation but for the next hundred to come.

Reason #2 is because I believe he alone is up to this challenge. Finally, our country is putting our best and brightest in charge again and leaving the Sarah Palins of the world behind. Here's all you need to know about this man to realize just how great he really is. He's a black man in America, named Barack Obama, only 4 years after the second confirmation of W, and he defeated the strongest political machine perhaps in American history (the Clintons) when barely a year ago no one, not even the African-American community, believed in him.

I believe in Barack Obama.

I do not believe he is the messiah, or that he is perfect. I believe that he is the best man for the job. I have seen his character in the campaign, and he truly does represent change, not just because of his race, or the things he has said, but because of his sincerity. It has been a long time since an American politican truly inspired. It has been a long time coming to believe that those in charge truly are putting the interests of our country first. I believe this about Barack Obama.

Obama will make mistakes. There will be a learning period on the job. He will make gaffes, misstatements, even blunders. Of this, I have no doubt. Every President before him has. The difference? He will admit them. He will change course when he is wrong. He will respect the advice of more experienced people around him and seek to make the right decision irrespective of where that idea came from. That is what we need. That is what the world needs.

And that is why I am counting down to January 20th.

One last thing.

I will mourn the last eight years until Tuesday the 20th, but then I will celebrate and look forward. This is the most exciting time to be alive probably ever and this is the best country in the world to be living in right now. Yesterday, I finally mailed in my citizenship application, and I will be proud to be an American citizen. The future is now.