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Waiting For Nothing

By: Unwelcome Perspective


There are two parties of political analysts that have been hellbent on giving me a headache since the first months following President Obama's inauguration.  The first is the impatient posse of haters proudly saying "I thought Obama was going to change everything.  He hasn't changed anything."  Then there are his equally annoying and ignorant defenders who say, "He's only been president for one year.  Give him a chance.  He has to reverse 8 years of horrible Bush policy."

Both these groups exist in a fantasy world inhabited by helpless morons because they ignore the reality that Obama is the president, and is therefore in a position where he cannot change anything, even if he is given fourteen terms to do so.  The president is one man in a system involving trillions of dollars and over two hundred years of construction.  The president's job is not to change the system, it is to tell the American people what they want to hear, and to enforce the laws passed by Congress.  These laws are not even written by Congress, they are designed by lobbyists who are hired by corporations and massive special interest groups.

If Obama is going to change anything, he is going to have to take on a global consortium of the most powerful corporations in the world.  He is going to have to work against the wishes of the people who donated 250 million dollars to get him elected.  Change doesn't come from one man.  It comes from inventors and entrepreneurs.  It comes from changes in consumer taste.  It follows natural, political, and economic disasters.  It is a force of nature and evolution.

Obama probably wants to change the country, and he is great at communicating his desire to do this. Unfortunately as president he cannot do this, and it is not his fault.  If people want to liberate themselves from a pipe-dream of futile expectations, they need to relax and let the man do his job.  His job is to give pep talks to the people, and save them from unnecessary anxiety.  If they want change, they can start with themselves.