2008-11-18 10:00:50 by abowman in Ravings of a Lunatic (no comments) permalink
I’ve noticed something curious. I follow several link and news aggregation sites and during the election they were all hotbeds of support for President-elect Obama. The pro-Obama and anti-Palin (mostly not anti-McCain) rhetoric was thick.
The day after the election it all disappeared. Curiously enough, it was replaced with something different. It was replaced with pleas to President-elect Obama not to “screw things up.”
Here’s a good example. Noted (and quotable) science fiction author John Scalzi says on his blog:
4. As I type this I’m having an IM conversation with a friend of mine who is noting that the Obamas are very much like we are, “we” being the polyglot generation of well-educated, relatively affluent 30- and 40-somethings who are the first post-boomer, post-yuppie set of grownups out there. With the caveat that I’m not silly enough to say that I feel like I know Obama or that we share a special bond (a Chicago bond! w00t!), I think my friend is right, and watching the interview last night I certainly got that vibe as well. It’s why — among other reasons, to be sure — I desperately hope he doesn’t screw things up. When you look at your president and for the first time see someone like you, it makes a difference.
The emphasis added is mine.
It seems a bit strange to invest yourself in a candidate whom you desperately hope doesn’t screw things up. To bring hope in is to say that while you believe that he will do good, you certainly admit that there is a chance that he won’t. But to add desperation is, I think, an admission that it is highly likely the President-elect Obama will screw it up. Desperation implies hopelessness. I guess President-elect Obama’s supporters really must want change badly if they elected him with desperate hope that they will make changes (implied: the right changes?).
The election is over and now we all have a new President. I’m feeling some desperate hope too. I desperately hope that President-elect Obama turns out to be a good President and that we don’t spend the next four or eight years watching our world spin further out of control. I’m sure my reasons differ from Mr. Scalzi’s, but I think we share the same hopes.