What an Obama Presidency means (in 8 years) to me?

Renaissance Man

(420 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sat Apr-19-08 01:26 PM
Original message

What an Obama Presidency means (in 8 years) to me?

Edited on Sat Apr-19-08 02:26 PM by Renaissance Man

The right wing, of course, will take every opportunity imaginable to speak ill of his wife, his daughters (remember the Chelsea as the White House dog gem from Limbaugh), mention Affirmative Action, talk about taxes, and then bitch and moan at every opportunity imaginable. Remember, being racist, xenophobic pricks is not beneath Republicans. It's been their bread and butter since invoking the Southern Strategy.

They'll drum up this ignorant meme that life was so much better under Bush, ignore the fact that the deficit doubled under his administration, ignore the foreign policy blunders, ignore the continuing trade deficit, ignore the bridges and levees that have fallen (because, Jesus H. Christ, I'll be damned if I'm taxed another dollar) and then work to try to defeat any chance of real progressive legislation being enacted by Congress. Of course, they'll blame it on Democrats, and not on years 2000-2006 where Republicans were raping and pillaging our federal treasury.

Oh, and did I mention taxes. Reverend Wright. The gays. The Mexicans. William Ayers. Abortion. All other forms of non-sensical wedge-issues?

I see the right wing campaigning heavily in "small-town America" and enlist the support of every nutjob imaginable to try to win back Congress. At this point, Hagee and Phelps will be the new Falwell and Dobson.

Then, on the other hand, I see this...

I see an Obama presidency inspiring millions of students (particularly college-aged) to take a part in public service. I see a president that immediately meets with generals in Iraq and convenes a reconciliation conference with the Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds (and even Al-Sadr) and delivers an inspiring speech encouraging these sects to resolve their differences. Merely from looking at his face and name and knowing American History, the United States will be legitimately viewed as a peace-broker and not an imperialist.

I see a president that works to have the Iraqi oil ministry serve as an agent to spawn economic development and growth in Iraq and shows the Iraqi citizens that an investment in their security and freedom is not only economic but political as well.

I see him meeting with the Syrians, the Lebanese, and Fatah, working to ensure that a real two-state solution exists and that we roll back our history of backing Zionism. We support Israel, but we shift our policy to balance the scales for everyone. We roll back the amount of foreign aid delivered to Israel, and we use that same funding to build up a real prosperous Palestinian state, help the Palestinians relocate back to their territory, and they then attempt to maintain some form of peace and tranquility with Israel.

I see Iraq forming as a real democracy, and Pres. Obama giving the message to Maliki and many of the Iraqi administrators that the occupation gig is up and that America will go back to doing the business of America while we work to deliver foreign aid to them and help redeploy our troops (somewhat still within the region) to ensure that total ethnic genocide doesn't break out.

I see a President inspiring new men and women to become members of the Peace Corps and different branches of the military so that our military might returns back to the years where it was used for humanitarian purposes and not for imperialism. I see the US in the Sudan, many refugees in Darfur being granted asylum, relocate to the US and gain an education and become productive Americans.

On the homefront, I see a redirection of focus. I see the campaign against public education stopped in its tracks and I see parents parenting again. I see even the "worst" of our public schools improving their performance by leaps and bounds. I see the US cutting programs that have been ineffective, maintaing the solvency of social security. I see over $150 billion invested in renewable sources of energy (creating new jobs). I see new automobiles manufactured to run on these renewable fuels and the Mid-West and Upper-Midwest (as well as the Rust Belt) bringing back an economic boom to places that have had to endure recession. Detroit will become Motown again and the Big Three will be able to realistically compete again.

I see us returning to the bargaining table with Chavez and providing more trade advantages to the state of Venezuela and we ensure mutual prosperity (while simultaneously gaining respect).

I see a President that begins to shift his foreign policy interests to inlude Africa and understands the possibility of opening Africa to real trade deals and economic development. I see a President that promotes the idea of producing renewable fuels worldwide, balancing oil dependence with a larger reliance on alternative fuels.

I see so much more. I guess this will do for now.