Monday 17 November 2008

Yes, what?

The Onion has a hilarious spoof on, well, um, us—all those folks who’ve spent a good part of the last year checking polling websites 12 times a day and dreaming of the double-fudge treat of both ousting the horrible Bushites and having a guy in charge whom we actually like.

It’s called “Obama Victory Causes Obsessive Supporters to Realize How Empty Their Lives Are.” Yikes. Breathe deeply and watch it here.

Like Tina Fey’s deadly piss-taking of the Arctic Lady, this one also rings familiar enough to make us laugh and cringe simultaneously. It says something about the increasing dementia of our system that puts not only the candidates through two years of repetitive nonsense but clogs the mental arteries of anyone paying close attention as well.

The Brits’ parliamentary system has a parallel process in which the out party is constantly jockeying and checking their polling numbers, so no doubt it’s built into an electoral system of any shape. But this one was so transformational that it’s no surprise we’re feeling it in our bones in a post-partum sort of way.

Obama is an inspiration, but he’s a huge challenge, too. The fact that our society has found itself capable of making such a beautiful, radical break with its own past resonates as a challenge to just about everything.

I’m not surprised to feel myself disgruntled about choices I’ve made, current conditions and my own capacity and productivity in everything from paid employment to my exercise program, housekeeping or having more dates.

With the sordid Bush crew in charge, it was a lot easier to blame external forces for any random unhappiness or disappointment. But the manifestation of ‘Yes, We Can!’ as an actual fact turns the question right back on oneself: So Why Aren’t You?

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