I hated the 2008 election cycle. It was tragic. It was lonely. My concerns about inflation and debt were so uncool. They were inadequately addressed by one party and completely dismissed by starry eyed groupies in the other.
Have you ever been at a really rocking party where everyone is so wasted that they’re seeing different dimensions? Ever been stone cold sober at a party like that? It sucks. Everyone is having the time of their life and you’re just hoping to sneak out the back door before someone asks for a ride home and throws up in your car. You’ve got to get to work in the morning and think maybe some sleep would be in order. The host’s house is getting trashed. The blender is in the fish tank, someone has painted the cat blue, there’s a naked stranger sleeping on the porch, and the bathroom looks like a war zone. They’re begging you to join in and all you want is to get out of there…because you’re sober…and it’s not fun. The 2008 election cycle was the big party that wasn’t fun if you hadn’t drank the Kool-Aid.
I never stopped focusing on boring stuff; “if solar panels are so great why do we need to subsidize them?”, “explain again how free medicine for everyone will save money?”, “if the Dutch East India Company, the Roman empire, and Oprah’s show all came to an end how can any company anywhere be ‘too big to fail’?” and my all time brain teaser “what has this guy ever accomplished?”
The press shoved rose scented bullshit in my face for months and there was no relief. I just had to ride it out. It culminated in this woman’s free tank of gas.
Well the party’s over. I don’t know about you but I’m relieved. Obama got a Nobel prize but I still pay for my own gas and mortgage. I’m no longer badgered by folks trying to explain how this new hopey changey magic future is going to be better than sliced bread.
With the passage of time, all that’s left is the party’s hangover and since I wasn’t euphoric in 2008 the letdown to 2011 wasn’t a letdown at all. It’s better in fact. I’m no longer surrounded by an atmosphere of giddy careless unreliability. Paying your own bills in 2011 it doesn’t seem quaint and pointless like it did in 2008. Nobody is talking about Obama riding in on his unicorn to tank up their car and free medicine is suddenly looking..uh…not free. With half of Europe wobbling in debt purgatory I’m hearing less about how we should copy their Utopian vision of cramped houses, commuting with bicycles, and cradle to grave “security” funded by…uh…nothing.
Folks who thought they’d dodged adulthood another few years are waking up to reality. You have to pay your bills, you have to take care of yourself, you cannot become a fully realized human being on the back of another …even if he’s handsome and articulate …even if you’ve been just dying to have a black president. Life just isn’t like that.
It was a journey each believer had to take on their own.
We’re back on earth again. For some it’s dour. For others it’s refreshing. I’m happy with the uncertainty of real life. Delusion is only fun for the deluded. I hope that 2012 is more reality based than 2008.
I also hope the elated woman in the video has done OK these last few years. I hope she’s paying for her own damn gas. I hope she’s proud of herself for doing it. There’s no need for despair because the free gas never came. Free gas isn’t free.
I hope she made the transition without bitterness. I’m rooting for her and I’m rooting for the rest of us too.
At the end of every Presidential election that I can remember, no matter who won, my primary thought has been “Oh, you poor bastard, you wanted it and now you’ve got it.”. My feelings at the end of the 2008 circus were that, cubed, and probably would have been if McCain had won. I thought that both candidates were unleashed egos with scant connection to reality who were diving in way over their heads. Obama is no in so deep that the fish swimming around his shoes make their own light. The only cheer I can take from the present mess is that Obama has not, YET, presided over a significant terrorist attack. That was my worst fear for both candidates in 2008, since both struck me as unstable self-centered jerks who were likely to lash out with nuclear weapons if significantly embarrassed.
My principle hope for 2012 is that there will be a real attempt by some Democrats to nominate somebody other than Obama, and a real floor fight at the Democrats’ convention. That would be a great thing for American electoral politics; the system whereby everything is settled long before anyone is paying attention is not good.
I just with God (or whoever) would give us back Teddy Roosevelt for four years…..
Reality always wins, but the damage has been done, and I don’t see anyone who is raising their hand to lead offering any real prospect of fixing anything. People may have woken up, but most of them aren’t out of bed and certainly have not yet had their first cup of coffee. And there are some, like Peggy the Moocher, who are true believers, and no dose of reality will be enough. You can bet that Peggy is mad at someone other than herself right now- Bush, White People, Koch Brothers, a furry little hamster named Stan – it doesn’t matter, as long as she has a alibi to explain why her tank doesn’t have gas in it that doesn’t involve her. 2012 will be more reality based than 2008, but calling S.S. a Ponzi scheme is still considered “over the top”, rather than a statement of fact; the debt ceiling battle made sure we only grew our overspending by 6% a year instead of 8%, and the general population disapproves of the GOP for even making an issue of it. Maybe they are just cranky because they were jarred awake, and they will be better after a good breakfast, but right now, I don’t see the manifest political will to stop us speeding down the road to hell in close pursuit of Europe. Yeah, Obama had the gas pedal to the metal, but it looks like the improvement 2012 offers is that the car will be driver-less and continuing down that road based on momentum only. No one is talking about actually applying the brakes and turning around.
Well said.
TANSTAAFL.
The fall of the roman empire caused the dark ages… something most people were not particularly better off as a result of. Probably something people would have been willing to try and avoid.
Indeed…it wasn’t a good thing. But “too big to fail” didn’t prop up Rome beyond a certain point…all things eventually pass or fail on their own.
I was watching when that clip was recorded. I’ve often wondered about the lady and her situation today. Her comment made me sad. On so many levels.
The Teleprompter-in-Chief’s rule over my country make me sad. On so many levels.
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