At the clinic this morning, one of the English conversation group’s was what chinese character would you choose to sum up this year? I chose the kanji for hope: 望. Barack Obama winning the American Presidency this week has given me hope. It’s the first really good news I can remember hearing for the last eight years. I was so happy I couldn’t even bring myself to blog about it for the last couple of days. The world just seems like such a better place knowing that the moronic Bush years are on their way out and somebody with intelligence and eloquence is on his way in.
Not that I am under any illusions that Obama will be anywhere near as progressive as I would wish him to be. But he is certainly a step in the right direction. And maybe if everyone who voted for change keeps pressuring for change, then we can keep on stepping that way. Writer Charlie Stross has a list up on his blog of the kind of changes he would like to see: LINK
And here’s a list of Obama’s actual campaign promises:
* Reduce the US’s carbon emissions 80% by 2050 and play a strong positive role in negotiating a binding global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol
* Withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months and keep no permanent bases in the country
* Establish a clear goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons across the globe
* Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center
* Double US aid to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 and accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses and Malaria
* Open diplomatic talks with countries like Iran and Syria, to pursue peaceful resolution of tensions
* De-politicize military intelligence to avoid ever repeating the kind of manipulation that led the US into Iraq
* Launch a major diplomatic effort to stop the killings in Darfur
* Only negotiate new trade agreements that contain labor and environmental protections
* Invest $150 billion over ten years to support renewable energy and get 1 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2015 LINK to barackobama.com (via avaaz.org)
Now they don’t look too bad now, do they? Hopefully, if, during the remainder of his term, Bush can restrain himself from destroying the world entire in one last cataclysmic burst of incompetence, we can then see just how Obama keeps his promises. And here’s a couple of outstanding headlines from The Onion to help keep us from entering into a new era of smug self-satisfaction:
Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress
Black Man Given Nation’s Worst Job
Now for some happy music from Michael Franti:
Download the full album: All Rebel Rockers
