cliche

really obama? seriously?

i can't say as i have had the love affair with our esteemed president as many of my friends have. i am unimpressed with his position on gay marriage, dislike his stance on iraq and afghanistan, and generally think that he could do more to help people (yes, yes, i understand that congress plays a role in this too...see earlier posts on things i don't like about them). in the end i understand that i am not going to agree with everything, and i can applaud the things i do like as well, but today i certainly have a bad taste in my mouth.

with his approval rating at 44%, the economy not making the oft-predicted comeback, and his white house leaking like a BP oil cap, obama apparently has to defend himself. what's the best defense? apparently a good offense (and by good here i mean effective not actually worthy of positive note). embracing all cliche obama has attacked republicans, touted america, and cited patriotism to justify his choice to give the auto industry yet more money.

i get really really tired of people playing the patriot card. i know WHY people do it - it creates a division between oneself and the 'other' with whom one does not agree. calling someone unpatriotic (which obama did by saying that supporting the auto industry was a way to be patriotic) puts them into the 'other' category. the farther we can stuff our opponents into this box the better because it allows us to think of them as evil, wrong, and inhuman. now we can justify doing to these 'things' whatever we wish (thank you arbinger institute and clark university for bringing me two views on the same topic).

i think of rwanda

i think of the balkans

i think of pakistan and india

i think of 9/11

basic psychology, fear, denial, conflict, pain, hate...so many things come from choosing a heart at war, attacking, name-calling, killing, hurting. i know that what obama's use of nationalism is not as extreme, but it taps into the same narrative, the same path, the same way of making sense of the world.

if leaders are meant to unite the world does this mean that politics divides it?

exterminator in chief

so am thinking about this whole obama killing the fly on tv and have come to one conclusion.

we are obsessed with famous people. so much so that we are unable to realize that killing a fly is not that noteworthy. i know - i do it all the time. this obsession leads us to think that people who are famous cannot do ordinary things. they don't kill pests or snore or watch tv or leave skid marks on their underwear. when famous people do these things what happens?

these things become famous.

and yes, i did watch the fly swatting action on youtube. it was funny. seeing famous people doing mundane things is funny. it's when they do the famous things that we all yawn and ignore them. no one really gets into a tizzy when a movie star makes a movie or a president signs a bill. these things are ho hum in their lives and therefore ours. we expect famous people to do those things and therefore it rarely makes front page news.

i suppose we all get noticed when we do the unexpected. i just think it's funny that we all do those things and expect that famous people do not.

he got that sucker.