The exciting transition from a Bob Gates Pentagon to a Bob Gates Pentagon apparently doesn’t do it for American progressives. The cries of “We wish you a Hopey Changemas!” have stilled as the big day approaches. The poignancy of this column is almost more than the reader can bear:
Take Back Barack
It’s time to reclaim the man we put in the White House
by Jeff Inglis + Deirdre Fulton
The “Change You Can Believe In” has turned out to be the same old same old:
Millions of us stood up and shouted, handed out fliers, talked to our neighbors, donated hard-earned money, and drove people to the polls for Change. We screamed, hugged, kissed, and cried when we learned Change had come to America. We knew Change wouldn’t come overnight, that it would take time, but we were excited that we had elected a man who was open to Change, who said he wanted to consider real people’s needs while in the Oval Office. We eagerly awaited the first hints of Change, as the president-elect’s transition developed.
And now, we have reason to worry that Change is not coming to America after all.
Poor fellows. It’s six weeks since the end of the election campaign, and they’re still capitalizing abstract nouns. Nor is it only at The Boston Phoenix that they’re beginning to worry:
“Obama’s argument — that his center-conservative cabinet will carry out radical change if he orders them to do so — is denied by recent history,” writes Ted Rall in Maui Times Weekly.
Still, amid all the clouds, there is a bright side:
The most important achievement so far is that Obama has managed (mostly) to keep our nation’s optimism afloat… He’s courting doubters while making sure that his base gives him the benefit of the doubt. That’s Change.
If you say so. I thought he got it from Nixon. Still, he hasn’t named the entire cabinet yet. “Sustainable-food guru Michael Pollard” thinks America needs a “food policy czar”. And, while Obama might not go that far, others remain hopeful he might at least change the business card:
Just last week, in a New York Times column, Nicholas Kristof suggested Obama “name a reformer to a renamed position” — Secretary of Food and Agriculture, or just of Food, perhaps?
What about Commissar of Menu Options? Ah, let’s not get our hopes too high.
Mr Inglis, meanwhile, has started a Take Back Barack blog. This would be the point in the chick flick in which the gal playing Meg Ryan’s best friend says, “Girl, you never had him in the first place.”