The facts of the matter as I seem them are these - 

This election results won’t change anything at all. The majority of people around the world, the ones who don’t have a roof over their heads, nor the luxery of even thinking about healthcare – will not be affected at all. Emperial Amerika will continue its unfortunate trajectory no matter which candidate wins. 

Their policies are frighteningly similar. More so, it is clear, by looking at the media’s treatment of candidates like Paul and Gravel, that Amerika is not particularly interested in anything remotely resembling ‘difference’.

They will both continue the fictitious war on terror. They will both allow the Oil, Tobacco, Banking, and Weapons industries to continue to gain power at the expense of the American voter, and they will both continue to work to the profit of the rich and the misery of the poor. 

Beyond the novelty of having an African American President, and the clear fact that he has more natural charisma than McCain – there is no functional difference between the candidates, especially when their foreign policies are examined. 

That so many people are fooled into pinning so much hope on Obama – reminds me of the charm people attributed to Clinton. Whereas I saw a man who was an accomplice to the murder of more than 500,000 Iraqi children under sancations, a man whose Secretary of State justified the murder by saying ‘it was worth it’ – on the pretense that this way ‘pressure’ on Sadam Hussein – and yet – everybody is fooled by the boyish charm and the drawl, and hallelujah – Bless Clinton. 

So I don’t really care either way who won. On the other hand, if anything – I leaned towards thinking that it would be better for all of us if McCain won. Then, at least, there would be no delusion, no Clinton-esque veneer to cover up all the blood and gore. Then at least, we would know that we are being aggressed. We would realize it and act accordingly – Amerika would overextend itself to collapse, and the nightmare would be over.

Okay. So that’s not how it came out, and the world has gone Disney and is breathing – what is to me a frightening – sigh of relief. Obama has won, they cheer – and in huge neon letters, or so the media would have us understand – the world now sees the words ‘Hope’, ‘Change’, ‘Obama’ all intwined into some bright fantastical chimera. A mirage. 

However, despite my own opinions on the matter, the sheer scale of hope for something, anything better than what they’ve already seen is certainly palpable. That people would extend so much sheer hope that Obama is their savior is on the one hand a disgustingly poor exercise in naivette and on the other hand – it’s almost touching. 

This raises a possibility - 

What if, just what if – Obama suddenly realizes that this is how he won, that this is why he won - that people are so desperate for a real life super hero in office that they actually turned out, and put a cape on him – draping him in what each one believes to be the authentic American dream. Something, in any case, better than a Bush, better than a…well, Bush.

If such an effect were possible – if even its possibility is plausible – then perhaps it’s a mistake to go around telling all ye Obamaphiliacs that you’re wrong. Maybe your optimism should be left to linger in the air – if there’s any chance at all that Obama will pick up on it. That he would be so struck by the power of that hope he’s been promising – the desperation with which people want it – to actually consider wearing the mantle – to actually consider for a second – like MiracleMan did on Olympus – that he has some real influence on the state of the world. That some possibilities could actually, be more than mere campaign attitudes. That if by simply invoking the possibility of hope so much support could be gained – then how much more support would surely follow if one were to actually provide not only the promise of change, but real, actual change. A change of heart. A re-examination of values. A refusal to work the tired treads of things, that in the end, yield only cruel profit. An affirmation of the value of all human life, an actual attempt to understand issues such as occupation before labelling their reprecussions as terrorism. An opportunity to work with the world, and for the world, and to understand that words such as ‘unilateral’ – are not words of change, nor are they words of hope. That American politics should stop, financially, militarily, and politically, at American borders. That when you poke your nose in other countries affairs, you will take no credit for anything good, and all the blame for everything bad – because you are operating illegally, imposing your will by might rather than submitting to the grace of right. 

So – maybe.

Maybe all you freaks can build so much expectation around Obama that first he’d be struck by the power of your fantasies, delusional though they may be, and then he’d be too ashamed not to at least try to fulfill them – to try to actually do good.

So there, I won’t piss on your parade right now.

Final words go to Axl ;)