1 post tagged “reality”

First off, let me start by saying that Obama gave me the one major change I wanted out of the last election cycle - an end to the presidency of George W Bush. So for me, anything else that changes (for the better) is gravy.  For me he has done some great things to help protect women's reproductive choice (GRAVY!).

The reason I ask this is because for so many people, they voted for a dream in 2008 not reality.  

• They voted for the troops to be magically transported out of dangerous warzones.  However, they got the very approach that McCain promised - a coordinated withdrawal of combat troops while leaving a peacekeeping force to assist the Iraqis that would be withdrawn (hopefully) in a year or so but would stay as long as needed if something changed (*cough*  remember McCain's 100 years comment?)
• They voted to end Guantanamo.  However the reality is the closure of the prison leaves 100s of terrorists without anywhere to go (we don't want them here, their countries dont want them).   The prison is set to close in a year but where will those 200+ prisoners go?   I personally doubt that they will make their way to mainland America so they will probably end up at one of the secret prisons we run (or our allies run on our behalf). 
• They voted for a new kind of "non-partisan" politics.  However we have all seen that both the Republicans and the Democrats (Obama included) are firmly entrenched in their party alliances and wars.  Just because Pres Obama declares a bill he wrote to be "non-partisan" does not make it true.   You can not expect people to go completely against their ideology and beliefs to accept legislation that is radically different.  It didn't work under Republican rule and it wont work under Democrat rule.
• They voted for an end to lobbyists that are beholden to large corporations and the rich.  President Obama even declared that his administration would be lobbyist free.  However, he backtracked on that promise within days of making it by hiring multiple lobbyists who owe companies like Raytheon massive favors.
• They voted for Obama because he would restore the USA's standing in the world and bring peace.  The reality is that plenty of countries simply don't like us and they haven't liked us for generations - with or without George W Bush.

Now, I don;t want President Obama to fail.  In fact, I want him succeed.  I just know that there were a LOT of naive people that believed Obama to be this mythical figure that could solve the world's woes.   They believed he would bring peace while protecting us from all harm.  They believed he would bring an economic revival that would make the poor rich (or at least middle class).  They thought he would fix our educational system.   They thought he had magic in him that would fix everything.  So I wonder this, at what point will their fantasy view of Obama end and reality set in?  

Worse yet, will their inevitable disillusionment with Obama lead to a return to their apathetic voting practices?  I would hate to see Sarah Palin come into power because Democrats decide to not vote (thats how we got Bush!)