One of the things we tend to forget, ignore, or downplay is that history is going to look at the turn of the millennium as The Obama Era, no matter what happens. That’s just a fact of life. America is coming to terms with its racial and racist past, and all of our lives in some way will be impacted by what President Obama does or does not do.
There was a bit in “I, Claudius” where Caligiula naturally assumes he’s the new god that soothsayers have foretold, said new god of course turning out to be Jesus. So the most important person in the world to our eyes today might not turn out to be the most important person to future generations. Like Copernicus v. whoever the heck was Pope when Copernicus was alive – it’s literally not important enough to look up.
That said – if there’s a person alive today who’s going to affect more people today and in the future than Barack Obama, well, I’d sure hate to piss him or her off.
But that was also true of George Walker Bush, and I wouldn’t want my children anywhere near that miserable son of a bitch. If, down the road, a President Cheney or President Tancredo or President Piscopo were to visit my child’s school, I would be thankful that the blinkered, hateful idiots this week set a precedent that I could keep my child away from such a harmful, destructive influence.
You don’t have to like the President. It’s the President’s job to please the people, not the other way round. I like and respect Barack Obama, and look forward to telling my grandchildren what it was like to be alive during his era. Part of that story will not be “and everyone loved him.”
While I’m here – I never heard of Van Jones before this week, but now that I have heard of him, I think he’s wonderful.
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