Something To Remember When Criticising This President

It seems that certain individuals (members of congress, "liberal media elites," particularly vocal advocates and activists, etc) are both furious about some aspects of President Obama's early decisions and actions, ("He promised this, and its not done yet, so he's never going to get it done") and simultaneously overjoyed about other aspects that have been heavily publicised by both the administration and its supporters.

While it is important to recognize both the good and bad areas of this presidency, on areas where people have leaned more toward criticism of their actions, I get the impression that there are facets of the area involved, circumstances in these situations, that are not being fully disclosed by the administration, investigated by the media, or realized by the public, which deeply and significantly impact and limit the choices that they are able to make at this early stage in the life of this administration.

There is not a doubt in my mind that they are having to work around structures and events caused by "those other guys" that came before them. Situations are never black and white in these complex circumstances that they (the Obama Administration) and we (the American Public) find ourselves in. These frameworks that have been left for them undobtedly limit the options immediately available to them.

I don't mean to be an apologist for them maintaining practices that they have inherited, just an advocate for patience, and a healthy dose of vigilance to ensure that they do get it right eventually, and soon.

Such conditions that prevent them from taking entirely appropriate and correct measures may be sensitive to national security, but in cases where disclosure is optional, when in doubt honesty is the best policy if they want to keep people like me on their side over the long run.

On Italy, and Pictures of Me

I really did mean to write more about my family trip to Italy this summer, but I just never got around to it what with the new semester and that crazy election that just ended (mostly ended, that is). I was just looking at my Facebook profile page and I noticed that I had never really said anything about the current picture I had up there, this one. So I started to write a comment about it and it turned into a big paragraph, so I decided to convert it into a blog post, only way over due. This picture was not in my original batch of uploads because it was not from my camera. I only recently recovered the photos of myself from our portable hard drive we all dumped our cards to every day on the trip. That took considerable time, but it was worth it. I only wish that I looked better in the photos. I chose this one to identify myself with on Facebook, not because of how terrible I looked, but because it was me, looking pretty much exactly how I looked the entire trip, in front of what is now one of my new favorite places on earth.

I look pretty terrible in this picture: I'm all squinty, tired and red. But, the sun was totally in my face and I was told to take off my sun glasses. I had been in Italy by then for almost 2 weeks, hence the redness. This little town is Vernazza, in the Cinque Terre region. If you look at the steeple, the little window juuuuust to the right of it at the top of that building is where we stayed for 2 nights at the end of our trip. We had a perfect, wonderful view of the sun setting over the little harbor. Glorious. Some of my fondest memories of that trip will be from Cinque Terre and the time we spent hiking all across it. Cinque Terra does not allow cars or even mopeds(!), and is only connected by train. These five quaint, tiny little towns are extremely close to each other, but due to their coastal placement and rugged terrain traveling by foot between them can be an adventure to itself.

Jon, Kristy and I traversed nearly the entire region over an afternoon, and conquered the gradually more difficult paths to where they come to a 2 hour up-and-down forest hike that led up to a 300 and something giant stair climb to get up to the next town. We each must have shed at least a few pounds just over that day, let alone what we all felt like we lost over the course of the trip (I think we've all gained it back since our return, which will be a discussed at a later date, enough is enough).

The Big Picture

I would argue that the angry, whining McCain supporters (and not even John McCain himself, but the ones complaining on TV; not necessarily you, if you happened to vote McCain) are only seeing the trees in this situation, while Democrats, led by President-Elect Obama, are seeing the forest, our country, for what is really going on and what we all have to do as one to restore this nation.

E Plurbus Unum. Don't forget that. That staple of currency decoration is particularly significant during times of turmoil, division, crisis, and especially elections. Right now our current situations run the whole spectrum. This campaign got pretty bitter on both sides, and while someone always has to win and someone always has to lose, we cannot forget about the foundations of this country and why they make it work.

If you look at many of the fledgling democracies in developing countries, or even in developed nations over the past century, they have come up short where America has survived due to one particularly essential habit that we have developed over our relatively short existence: the peaceful transition of power. This simple (and yet extremely complicated) gesture is what separates us from the rest of the pack of democracies all over the world. When we have an election, even a hotly contested one like in 2000, or one in which there was great emotional involvement and self investment, when it's over it's over.

The Bush administration, for all its pettiness, corruption, ineptitude, and fiercely hyperpartisan policies is willingly and cooperatively preparing for Obama to take over as President. And they are doing this, honoring this practice, because of tradition and our habits as a society. The exact moment when John McCain graciously conceded defeat to Barack Obama, and immediately encouraged all of his supporters to get in line behind the victor, is precisely where all the others fail where we succeed. When it's over it's over, and that's it.

That's the difference. No military coups, no retaining power and disbanding legislators. We have had our problems in the past, but when it comes to this, no matter how we feel about an election or a particular politician we stick together. E Plurbus Unum. From many, one. From our divisions and fiercely fought battles to standing together to repair our nation. This is why America works, why it will continue to work, and why we love it.

On Barack Obama's Presidential Victory Speech

Watching tonight's victory speech in Grant Park in Chicago, IL, I am reminded of a night on January 3rd, this year, almost exactly 10 months ago today, when Barack Obama was giving his victory speech for the Iowa Caucus, the first contest of the Democratic Primary. I look back especially at the beginning of that speech, and I think of what he has done, where he has come, how far he has gone, and what we have all done to help get him there.

"They said... They said... They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose. But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do."

I've been plugged into the Obama campaign since pretty close to Day One, and what has seemed like an eternal campaign has now come to an end, and a joyous, victorious one at that. He came from nothing politically, and through the belief and trust of the American people has formed one of the largest political coalitions in US history. The magnitude of this campaign, and the feats it has accomplished pale in comparison to what it can and will do to save our politics, and I believe will also save our country.

Barack Obama is not Jesus. He is not perfect, he is not going to flash a smile at all of our problems and magically whisk them away. He is however, a genuine, intelligent, charismatic, pragmatic public servant, and I can think of no better qualities to pull this nation back from the brink it has found itself on.

Upon inauguration President Obama (I love saying that) is going to announce a huge, unprecedented call to Individual Public Service. Not necessarily to serve in the armed services, which is always encouraged and honored, but to serve in our communities all over the country to make America better from within. He has made clear his intention to reward such service with money for college tuition. Not only will this help America by making its communities better and enable its workers to lift themselves up, but it will also enable those who wish to better themselves through education as a reward for helping make America strong again. This will truly restore this nation state by state, city by city, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand. We can make this place great again, but he needs you and I to help get us there. Will you answer his call to serve America?

It gets hard to keep up with all the new-fangled internet memes as they occur

But i try to. It's amazing how quickly these things are starting, and how easily the Internet makes it for them to spread like wildfire. I just found this one, that plays off of those new Microsoft "I'm a PC" ads.
I’m Schizophrenic and I’m not a PC, and I’m a PC

People submit their own prefix to the phrase ",and I'm a PC." It can be whatever they want, and some of them, like this one, are proving to be pretty funny.

Naturally Occurring Phenomena in my Latte

So I was drinking my latte at Starbucks and studying for Ethics when I noticed that my latte had formed a heart shape in the foam while I drank it. I thought it was interesting. That is all.

Fourth Trip Journal Entry

This entry is from Saturday, August 2nd, 2008. Pompei

This may be the most magnificent sight I have ever viewed with my own eyes. I just can't think of enough adjectives to describe this place, let alone fit them all in one sentence coherently. Today I strolled through homes, stores, town squares, and city streets that are more than 2,500 years old. I don't know where to begin.

We had a wonderful guide, Gaetano, who led us down the streets and was worth every penny. He told us hundreds of facts and insights into the life of the citizens of Pompei and even what they were doing at 1 o'clock that fateful day when they all died.

It was so amazing to experience that place. And it's so much larger than I could have imagined! Our guide - who happens to practically be Rick Steves' personal tourguide for Pompei that he recommends the most, and even uses for TV shows - noted that there may have been as many as 10,000 people living there at the time of the eruption. You could literally see unfinished work that people were working on as it happened. People were re-paving roads, replacing old, worn out columns in the square with new ones, making mozaics, and all sorts of other activities.

I still can't believe that under all that ash and rock that fell from the sky and hid this place away for so long, archaeologists were still able to find bodies. We could see casts of people, who looked like they were writhing in pain, or huddled in corners absolutely terrified of what was going on. It was so real, you could feel like you were there experiencing the horror of their world coming to an end.

We didn't even see everything, but we did see most of what our guide said was important to see. We also really enjoyed seeing the ampetheater there. They even still use it for performances today. You can see that they've altered it so as to be able to add seating for performances, as well as a stage. It's so impressive that this much of Pompei is still here. Even more amazing, not everything has been excavated yet. Who knows maybe someday I'll be able to return and see something new.