Today is Obama Day
Posted by Rupert on January 22, 2009
Returning to The Hovel after a short relapse at Mamage Mansion (aka The Laundry House), where the electricity works and the water is hot for a bath, is fridge shivery, about as cold as iced yoghurt. Outside the snow lies thin and crisp and the wind cuts slices out of my face. Inside the fire is out and the walls feel like the bow of an Arctic trawler. The geese are pissed off because I have been away – they see it as rejection – and are grudgingly grateful when I fill their feeding bowl with assorted cornage delights. They are too proud to say thank you and so hiss. I say, “Be like that!†and walk away.
Afterwards I feel guilty. They can’t help it. They are geese and only like me because I am head chef. Meanwhile Angel is annoying Holly by pulling her ears. There is still some jealousy between these two. They both want to be my BP*. The fire won’t light. I waste half an hour on it. I have taken off my coat, but kept on a wooly hat and scarf. My toes are pretending to have frostbite. I can’t be bothered with them. They are horrible at the best of time.
Today is Obama Day. I shall listen to his inauguration speech on the radio. What do I feel? Immensely optimistic. The Bush debacle is finally over, leaving the nation in tatters and too deep in debt to dare thinking about – is unregulated capitalism an excuse for greed, or is greed the essential ingredient of capitalism? – and spending fortunes daily on rotten wars they cannot win.
If Barack is as good an administrator in office as he was on the campaign trail and he chooses his team wisely – I am heartened by his trust in scientists, but worry about Hilary’s commitment to anything other than brand Clinton - he can resurrect America’s reputation for fairness and good judgment by (for starters) telling Israel to stop behaving like a Nazi storm trooper.
His race, background and academic training is less of an issue than what he represents; not a shouter but a listener, not a warmonger but a peaceblender, not a dreamer but a doer. Everyone in The Debtor’s Prison (aka GB) thinks the expectations are too high and, once faced with the realities of modern politics, he will fail. I don’t think like this. The passion of the people and the wishes of the world are with him now. He will use them to change the way we think.
The fire is alight. The room begins to melt. The dogs are asleep. The wind screams. I light three candles to write this. I keep my hat on. Winter is for hibernation. Only the sheep, the geese and me are foolish enough to be awake.
Bad day for the cynics – Obama Day. You can live on hope, like you can live on love. Not forever, but for now. And then stretch it.
By Angus Wolfe Murray, January 2009
* BP = Best Pal
2 Responses to “Today is Obama Day”
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January 23rd, 2009 at 23:00
This must be the definitive collection of Obama inauguration photos:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html
January 24th, 2009 at 16:07
It’s true that a lot of us in the States are to a certain degree infatuated with our new president. And we’re eager to have him drag us out of the muck that we’ve been slowly sinking in for the past eight years. But we need to remember that the frog that we kissed turned into a prince (and we all know that they are not perfect) and not into a Messiah.Still we’re happy and besotted. And the fact that the world seems to like him so, makes us feel like a teenage girl getting that craved approval from our girlfriends for our latest (hopefully long lasting) BP.