Hello, Mr. President

So our favourite African American (after Michael Jackson) is having lunch with 200 guests in Washington DC at this precise moment. Among those guests are his erstwhile enemies, harshest critics and those looking to use him to get what they want - and of course those who genuinely and enthusiastically supported his bid for the Presidency.

In his 18 minute speech that, in my humble opinion, slightly lacked (VERY slightly, microscopically so) the sheer awesomeness of his post-election acceptance speech on November 4 that moved Jessy Jackson and millions of others to tears, he had two important things to say to the enemies of his country - 1) Don't fuck with us, 2) If you really want to fuck with us, let's discuss the terms first.

Therein lies the difference between Obama and practically every single US President of late, most significant of them being George Walker Bush. Obama will have his gun loaded and ready, but he will not pull the trigger unless he really has to. He'd much rather try talking to them.

While the conservative media led by Faux News tried to paint him as a sympathiser and even worse, an appeaser, of global terror in the run up to the elections (he was actually called a "terrorist" by overenthusiastic McCain supporters at at least one Republican rally, largely ignored (if not egged on) by that nightmare of a VP candidate, Palin). Obama appears to have silenced those critics now and today, in true American fashion, he told their "enemies" in no uncertain terms that they need to be watching their asses. "We will defeat you," he said quite convincingly. If I were an Al-Qaida dude, I'd start looking for a place to hide right about.. NOW.

BUT, he also said that he's willing to work together with the Muslim world and work towards building trust and understanding based on mutual interests (read oil).

Well, something's better than nothing, right? There's enough shit going on in the world right now. Even at the risk of letting the ice caps melt, the West and the Middle East need to CHILL, and if that means more oil politics, then so be it. Just enough with the fuckin' violence already.

And then there's Gaza, as I said in one of my previous posts, this is one issue on which Obama's stance has been... ambiguous, at best. But according to CNN he has expressed a personal interest in getting involved. Dunno how factual this is, though. If it is then, great.

But then what can he do? He's just one powerful man against a much more powerful Jewish lobby. His Chief of Staff is Rahm Emmanuel - enough said.

Anyway, let's wish the man all the best. At least he'll do a better job than his predecessor.

Oh and by the way am I the only one who felt kinda bad for Bush Jr today? I mean I know he's responsible for half the shit that's been going down and all, but I dunno... I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy as he sat there, his expressionless face staring into nothingness as he listened to that left wing black guy make some veiled references to some of his supposed blunders. "How dare he?"

I dunno. I thought Obama should've cut him some slack there. It was Bush's last day in office after all.

Oh well. Just my two cents.

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Image courtesy Wikipedia.

The System 2.0 - Change We Can Believe In?

So Barack Obama is gonna take his oaths as Number 44 in less than a week from now. So what?

The whole world watched with baited breath on November 4 waiting for Wolf Blitzer on CNN to break the news that everyone was dying to hear - that Barack Hussein Obama achieved what many thought was an impossible dream.

People of all ages, races and places were moved beyond words and got pretty emotional at the news, witnessing history in the making. If anyone tells you otherwise, they're lying. It was a historic moment of epic proportions and there's no denying its significance. Yours-truly had to exercise great self restraint to stop himself from jumping for joy (literally). :p

And now, as any two-year-old would tell you, Obama is going to hold the nuclear codes and, in essence, going be the most powerful man on Earth. But is he really?

Will they let him? (I know what you're thinking right now, "another conspiracy theorist". No, I'm not that, I assure you). :D

For a country that is said to be (and clearly is, at least on the surface) free, fair and fully democratic, the much hackneyed "system" that operates in the US of A is pretty fucked up.

Why? Simple; it's the far right (and the disgustingly rich) that controls it. Obama maybe the most liberal Democrat to have ever run for office but we can rest assured that it's not going to be him calling all the shots; well, not the ones that matter anyway.

The ever present lobbyists are.

No amount of "change" can ever stand up to the influence of these lobbies, let alone completely erase it from the picture. I'm not doubting Obama's integrity and I'm sure he'll try his best to live up to his campaign promises, but let's face it, it's gonna be one majorly uphill climb for the guy (not counting the economy crisis).

Take for instance his as yet ambiguous stance on the situation in Gaza.

Innocent people are dying over there as you read this (please tell me SOMEONE is reading this), and Obama hasn't said a word in protest. To use a cliche, his silence has been deafening. Even though he is not a Muslim himself, it's reasonable to assume that his Muslim connections (albeit very distant) lead at least a part of him to believe that there's something wrong with the US policy on the Middle East. Do you even have to be Muslim to be concerned about those poor civilians anyway? I'm not Muslim and yet here I am writing this post.

Well, I guess it all comes down to "national interest". At the end of the day, it will not be the lives of a few hundred "outsiders" that will be important, but the rich oil reserves in the Middle East and elsewhere. And it's not just the US, really. Every major power is guilty of this. What matters will not be "equality for all" as preached by practically every single world leader.

The "system" will continue to ensure that the fittest will survive, whatever the cost, and the weak is either eliminated or suppressed; OK maybe not eliminated but definitely suppressed and kept in their place. I suppose, in that sense, the system hasn't let them down.

And it won't for a long time to come.

Here's hopng that Obama will at least use his marketing skills on the powerful lobbyists (wishful thinking, I know). Oh well.