The descent begins...

I can say it; I was wrong. I was wrong when I said that the American public elected Barack Obama because he was their hope for redemption. I now realize that it was so much more than that. Whether blindly or completely aware, this country has signed up for a future so much more horrific than a little ascetic salvation. No, this will lead to asceticism of the worst kind...forced. I've said for the last 10 months, this president isn't Clinton III, nor Carter II; he is FDR IV. (For those of you who don't know history that pre-dates your primary school days, FDR was elected to 3 terms - yes, three term- before dying in office.

Say what you will about the public's sigh of relief over finally breaking the final color barrier, but don't say that it's the last we'll hear of it. Far from it, I'm afraid. Any resistance to the president's policies, no matter how logical the argument, will be rebutted with racial epithets. You heard me...those of us who see the peril of the acts forthcoming and vocally object will be labeled as racists and discarded out of hand. There is no faster way to feel marginalized and disenfranchised in this country, and the sensitivity to it seems to have disappeared like the Golden Gate Bridge in a morning fog. If you think I'm off my rocker, let me offer a piece of empirical data... During his second major press conference, yesterday, President Obama took questions from 13 journalists (and I use the term loosely) over the course of 57 minutes. Of those he responded to were notable networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN,FOX), a few online journals, (e.g. Politico) a few periodicals (Stars and Stripes, Ebony). Yes, I said Ebony. That ground-breaking, hard-hitting magazine, so noted for... uh...I don't know. Notable NOT called upon were the nation's three newspapers of record. For those of you who don't know anything about journalism, the standard in this country is that a newspaper only has to be written at a 9th grade reading level, with the exception of three. These are periodicals of record that are written at least at a 12th grade reading level and are THE periodicals that are kept in historical archives in the libraries across the country. Those newspapers are the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. Say what you will about the writing and political bent in any of them, but don't reduce them to something lower than Ebony Magazine! Not about race, huh? My ass!

And yet, all of that isn't what keeps me up at night. Yes, the close proximity of the Mexican border, coupled with regular violence in our otherwise affluent neighborhood does its fair share, but that's not it. Obama, to his credit, can see what's wrong with the current state of things. His approach to changing it, though, is comparable to throwing dynamite in a pond. That's never been an effective approach to culture change management. If you think I'm wrong, then ask yourself, how much are you committed to your community vice yourself. If the ratio is 10 to 1, then you're the next soldier in his army of change. If you're a typical American, and have grown up with our self-interests first and foremost in our minds, then you are going to be very miserable for a very long time. Join the club...we have hats.