Saturday, February 11, 2017

Missing you bad


In his piece "The Madness of King Donald," New York magazine writer Andrew Sullivan captures the surreality of these post-Obama times. Here's an excerpt from his most recent column:
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One of the great achievements of free society in a stable democracy is that many people, for much of the time, need not think about politics at all. The president of a free country may dominate the news cycle many days — but he is not omnipresent — and because we live under the rule of law, we can afford to turn the news off at times. A free society means being free of those who rule over you — to do the things you care about, your passions, your pastimes, your loves — to exult in that blessed space where politics doesn’t intervene. In that sense, it seems to me, we already live in a country with markedly less freedom than we did a month ago. It’s less like living in a democracy than being a child trapped in a house where there is an abusive and unpredictable father, who will brook no reason, respect no counter-argument, admit no error, and always, always up the ante until catastrophe inevitably strikes. This is what I mean by the idea that we are living through an emergency.

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It's no wonder I'm waxing nostalgic for a time when this was what a meeting with the president's top advisors looked like:


If only this were a movie, and the hero was right now striding up the path to our rescue.


But the hero is gone away. We didn't appreciate our 44th president when he was here doing his utmost for us. Now we have to do for ourselves. My husband likes to say, maybe No. 45 will make America great again, just not in the way he imagined.

All photos by Pete Souza



9 comments:

  1. It all seems like a dream now as we live in the nightmare.

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  2. Me too me too me too. He will always be my President.
    xo

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  3. I think your husband is very wise. I've not been politically active since my youth and now as I near retirement I find myself becoming an activist, marching,calling,mailing, donating. I'm going to volunteer orientation at my local ACLU next week! So different than my usual mildness. I think many of us are now fired up and inspired to fight back and that is the silver lining in this shitstorm.
    Xoxo
    Barbara

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  4. If you are in need of yet another honkin' long article to read (hah) here's one that gave me food for thought; titled "Containing Trump", it is taken from The Atlantic, and it came to me via The Brookings Institution. It attempts to put the challenges into context but is also "cautiously optimistic".
    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/03/containing-trump/513854/?utm_campaign=Brookings+Brief&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=42427416

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    1. I think I should add that the author's conclusion is that American civil society MUST be engaged in order to contain Trump. Sorry for the lack of clarity before!

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  5. So restful just to see the photos ... and thank you for Andrew Sullivan's paragraph; I had not seen the article. How lame and un-creative, but I second everything said here -- the dream/the nightmare, he will always be my president, and I SO hope that from this ordeal will come a more involved citizenry and a final commitment to a country we can be proud of. We are better than what we are seeing now.

    I get annoyed when commentators speculate that Obama's legacy will be destroyed. Not possible, no matter what the current administration does. He didn't just talk about high ideals, he pursued high goals, and we can too.

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  6. Thank you for sharing this. It is so, so true. I miss him and Joe so much. And Michelle, too.

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  7. Same feelings here and I'm not even American. On another note, I see my boy O is hanging out with Richard Branson. I would urge caution. Honestly, Barack, careful with your new mates. Let us just say that Branson has a very strange relationship with the average British taxpayer.

    Greetings from London.

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  8. I am the odd man out at my work. My coworkers are diehard republicans and are as happy as can be with everything thats going on. Even celebrating by going out to get their permits to carry ...... unconcealed guns.. meanwhile I, feel like you, living in a nightmare,and don't understand how Trump in office is ok.....

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