Word of the Year

Yesterday, I read an article about Obama's speech on the night of February 24 (link to the article by Jeff Zeleny). The article discussed the highlights of Obama's speech - some of his plans for the next four years: the $787 billion stimulus package, the bail out of US banks, a decrease in dependence on foreign oil and the reform of health care (among others). Zeleny does note, however, that Obama was rather vague in his speech. He said what he desires to do, but not how he intends to do it. As has been my tendency so far with our new President, I began to worry.

I began to worry that because of his vagueness, Obama will be criticized. I wondered how much I myself could trust someone who doesn't share how they plan on turning the country around with millions of viewers watching around the world.

And then I remembered...again...patience.

1. Obama has been in office for barely over a month;
2. A little under an hour (the length of Obama's speech) is nowhere near enough time to outline just how Obama plans to essentially undo all the Bush administration has done in eight long years;
3. The day after Zeleny's article was published, today, there is an article by Jackie Calmes describing how Obama plans to lower tax cuts for the wealthy and to use the money gained to make health care more affordable in the future.

Of course, Calmes talks a lot about tax brackets and just how the new tax cuts will work, but no matter how long I stared at the words on my screen I couldn't quite make head nor tails of exactly what it all meant.

The bottom line is this: of course Obama has plans for what he intends to do during his term. Of course there will be opposition from people throughout the United States. And he's been in office for one month. One month isn't even enough time to grow a decent-looking beard (although...how would I know?), much less know how to pull one of the most powerful countries in the world out of an economic recession and change a great deal of what has been put in place in the last eight years.

I simply need to have confidence in Mr. Obama and have faith in the fact that he can lead us out of these dark(ish) times. I've no reason to doubt him.

Some quotes I liked from the speech:

"While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: we will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."

"While the cost of action will be great, I assure you the cost of inaction will be far greater."

He also said (and I'm paraphrasing) that we need to sacrifice short term benefits and comforts for the long term ones.

I'm going to make "Patience" my personal word of the year.

-ZMG

A Step in the Right Direction

The New York Times reported that President Obama signed an order today to have use of all "secret prisons and detention camps," including the camp at Guantánamo Bay, terminated by this time next year. The article, by Scott Shane, reports however that the president has not made decisions about certain sticky details, such as where to send dangerous prisoners, whether or not to keep some interrogation methods secret so that future prisoners cannot be trained on how to resist them and where to send prisoners that cannot be kept in the US so that they are not tortured. 

This is the second time thus far that I've heard of Obama keeping his mouth closed about difficult issues. The first was his lack of comment about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My first instinct was to worry that critics would see this as indecisiveness, and I even caught myself - I'm not sure what to call it - not worrying, but almost being skeptical of...something. I couldn't pinpoint it. I think it's that I want Obama to succeed so badly that I'm afraid his critics and skeptics are going to pounce at even the smallest, most insignificant sign of weakness or indecisiveness. 

Then I remembered: an era of responsibility and patience. These are not small issues, nor are they issues with clear or easy solutions. The decision to close the prisons and detention camps in and of itself is a big deal after eight years of immoral interrogation methods, and a year is not a long time. In fact, it almost seems somewhat ambitious when I give it some thought. 

I've proved to myself tonight that I do need to make sure I remain patient. It's been 54 hours or so since Obama was sworn into office, and I believe he's already begun turning the US back in the direction its founders intended it to travel.

-ZMG

Read the full New York Times article here.

January 20, 2009 - Pre-Inauguration: An Era of Responsibility and Patience

On this most historic of days for the United States of America, there are a few points I think need to be made before our new president is sworn into office. The first is, of course, that this is a momentous occasion. I am so proud of the citizens of this country to have come out in such impressive numbers to elect Mr. Obama. I do believe he has the potential to help our country through the most difficult of times. However, I also believe it is imperative to remember that Mr. Obama is, in fact, not Superman. He cannot change this country by himself. Change can only occur with the assistance of the citizens of the United States of America. Obama cannot solve climate change by himself. It will take the responsibility of each and every one of us to be conscious of what we use and what we waste. We must be responsible enough to know what we can do to damper the effects of climate change. It is unfair and unrealistic to believe that our government, no matter who it is led by, can stop climate change and restore our environment to what it once was - if that is even possible at this stage. We must be responsible and mature enough to accept that our government alone cannot bring about the end of the current financial crisis. While the government can try to bail out banks, to boost the auto industry, to "jump-start" the economy, we have just as much of a responsibility - if not more - as the government to be mindful of how we manage our money. 

A reporter on CNN said this morning that Obama has called this an "era of responsibility and patience," and I don't believe anyone could have said it better. There will be no immediate results. There is no issue facing us right now that can be solved instantaneously. Slowing climate change and strengthening the economy will take years, perhaps even more than a presidential term or two. Responsibility and patience.

The beauty of the United States of America is that we can come together when it it most essential to do so. Now is one of those times. Now is when John F. Kennedy's speech holds the most truth: it is not what this country or this government can do for us as a population or as individuals, it is what we can do for our country, both as a population and as individuals.

That being said, let's celebrate the end of an era, and the start of a new one that has all the potential in the world to be great.

-ZMG

Surefire signs you are an idiot.

1. You are a pro football player in a club on Lexington Avenue with a loaded handgun.

2. You shoot yourself in the thigh with said handgun.

Way to go, Plaxico.

Full story and the controversy surrounding it here.

-ZMG

A Helluva lot more Refreshing than that Shot of Vodka I took to Celebrate

Refreshed. Exactly what I felt as I watched the 44th President-Elect of the United States of America give his acceptance speech from Chicago at the ungodly hour of 5AM here in England. A fresh face. A fresh voice. A fresh agenda. A fresh take on American politics, a fresh take on our country. 

Never in my life have I been so nervous for something. I was giddy all day in anticipation of finally finding out who our next president would be. Surprisingly, the first few hours of watching election results come in on CNN and the BBC network flew by. Two of my friends and I arrived at Professor Rudalevige's house at 10:30PM. At the house there was soda, beer, wine, coffee, tea, bagels with cream cheese (soft cheese, in English), lox and onion, and then later breakfast burritos, bacon and pancakes. The Diner of Democracy, Professor Rudalevige called it. 

The night (and early morning) was spent with dry humor and sarcastic jokes about the shocking news that McCain had won Kentucky...and the other red states following. But our dreams slowly began to take hold and become reality as we watched CNN's projected electoral vote returns climb higher and higher in favor of Mr. Obama. Confidence began to soar, particularly when Obama had 207 projected electoral votes in his favor to McCain's 89. And when Obama took Virginia pushing him up to 220, we knew we were witnessing one of the most important events in the history of the United States of America. We held hands as we counted down from 10 before the West Coast projections came in, and--in our delirious states at  4AM--nearly tore the roof off the house when the screen in front of us read "Barack Obama Elected President."

I have never been so proud to be an American. I have never had my faith renewed in our country as much as I did early this morning. I am so happy that I no longer have to feel like I have to apologize for being American when my accent betrays me here in England. And I am so happy, and so proud to have been a part of this election, and for our generation to be one of the driving forces behind electing the first ever African-American president in the United States of America.

I have no doubt that tough times lay ahead, both for the country and for President-Elect Obama. I believe things will have to get worse before they can get better and our economy can recover from the current recession. Obama has many promises to fulfill, and many people to show that he is the right person for this job, and I cannot wait for him to take office and to begin to pull this country out of the deep hole it has been dug into by the current administration. I have complete faith that he has the ability to lead us into a new era of politics and to improve the USA's standing on the world political stage. One of my British flatmates told me she is happy that she can finally have faith in American politics. This election, without a doubt, puts us in a new, shining light for the rest of the world. And as Mr. Obama said in his acceptance speech: "And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope." 

Congratulations to President-Elect Obama and Vice President-Elect Biden, and to all those who voted in favor of writing one of the most unlikely chapters in our nation's history and who voted for Hope, Change, and the most inspirational candidate I feel I may ever see in my lifetime.

***

A brief update and reminder: Tomorrow, Thursday, November 6th, Meghan Blickman, Lauren Deitz, Chad Frazier and I will head off to Dublin until Monday, November 10th. And next week, Dwight Dunston and I will leave for Bologna, Italy on Friday, November 14th to return to England Monday, November 17th.

Take care, all. I'm off to finish a paper and then hopefully relax a bit. I went to bed at 6AM this morning. Cheers!

-ZMG

The Big Day

Today's the day! How INCREDIBLY exciting! I woke up this morning and my first thought was, "Wow, it's ACTUALLY here! It's ACTUALLY election day!" I've never been so excited about politics in my life. In 20 minutes or so all the Dickinson kids are going to go to the Program Director's house (our Professor, Professor Rudalevige's house) to watch the election results come in. We don't plan on leaving until 4 or 5am. Hopefully by then we'll know who our next president will be! I feel like somewhat of a celebrity today. Anyone who knows I'm American, and unless they live under or a rock or are part ostrich, knows today is a big day for my country and I, and even that it is a big day for them, as well. I haven't seen it, but apparently the Opinions editor of the school newspaper here wrote today that it is unfair that British residents do not get to vote in the United States' elections because US politics have such a big impact on the rest of the world. Not the brightest comment in the world, but a pretty flattering one, nonetheless. 

This year is also the 20th anniversary of Dickinson's partnership with UEA. Last night a dinner was held on campus in commemoration of this occasion, and all the Dickinson students were invited to attend. There were a few Dickinson alumni there, as well as American Studies professors, Professor Rudalevige and his wife, members of the international office here at UEA, a professor from Dickinson who had flown across the pond for this event and the chancellor, vice chancellor, and the councillors of UEA--the equivalents to a president, vice president and board of trustees at an American university. I sat beside a council member by the name of David Edwards. Mr. Edwards had had the privilege of receiving a Queen's honor (or something to that effect) for his work for healthcare in the United Kingdom. He was invited to Buckingham Palace, the whole nine yards. He was also the CEO of a hospital. He and I talked about my experience so far in England and at UEA, his holidays to New York, traveling, making money, graduating, reading and..yes, how did you know? Politics. The election didn't come up until the end of our conversation when he finally said, "So, Obama tomorrow, is it?" I told him I hoped so. We both mentioned aspects of the election that the two of us had not thought of before. He talked about how the fact that a relatively young, inexperienced senator and an the oldest man to ever run for president were the parties respective candidates says something about our country. What exactly it was, I wasn't sure. I was slightly offended by this, especially because I believe Obama is a wonderful pick and the most animated and inspirational candidate I've seen in my lifetime. My father has said that he is more excited about Obama than he has been about any candidate since JFK. I spoke about how I was upset that religion has begun to play such a role in presidential elections because I believe in the complete separation of church and state. At the same time I understand that this is difficult separation to have when topics like abortion are being discussed. He said that he did not realize religion was such a big issue. Maybe I made it seem like a bigger issue than it actually is, but it's pretty big for me.

That being said, I am off to Professor Rudalevige's house now for the election party! My next entry will be one adorned with either extreme and undying glee, or the deepest, darkest depression. I'm hoping for the former. 

Love to all, and good luck tonight! Let's make history!

-ZMG