WOTS:

“I wish I could share Cleese’s optimism that Obama’s election would erase the events of the last eight years.”

As you suggest, this is (sadly) unlikely, for two reasons.

First, Obama will be saddled with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Add that to the general mess that Bush has made of the economy (deficits, debt, etc.), and Obama will have his hands full.  In fact, it is likely that if Obama is unable to make some real, visible progress in four years, the G.O.P. will use that against him in 2012.  My guess is they are already licking their chops in this regard.

Second, we have not heard one word from Obama - the constitutional scholar - re undoing the damage Bush has done to the Constitution.  He has said nothing about reversing executive orders and signing statements that centralized power in the executive; nothing about restoring habeus corpus and Posse Comitatus (among others); and nothing about restoring the many freedoms and civil liberties that have been weakened or nullified over the past seven years.

Certainly he remains the (much) lesser of two evils, not least re the Supreme Court, health care, foreign affairs, etc.  But it remains to be seen whether he keeps all that (illegally obtained) executive power, or relinquishes it.

Peace.

Yes the “re-election” of Bush was a watershed moment for me, if not for America. We had an opportunity not only to repudiate the mistakes of an incompetent administration, but more importantly, to strongly denounce the suspect methods by which that administration achieved power. The strict party line supreme court vote which made a travesty of our constitution and deeply wrongtracked the country, perhaps for years to come, needed to be undone. But giving Bush a second term instead, effectively deep-sixed whatever was left of the American democratic process. From that point forward we’ve been living in a might-makes-right, end-justifies-the-means society, even if those means are torture,  domestic spying, and a host of other perversely conspicuous betrayals of public trust.

I wish I could share Cleese’s optimism that Obama’s election would erase the events of the last eight years. For me the real damage has not been Bush, but the sad recognition that millions accepted Bush’s overreaching policies so willingly - that we were led, with little more awareness than one would expect from livestock, to the destruction of so much that we hold dear.

Mark Russell used to say “Keep it up, Guys. I need the material.”

You’re wrong, John. If Monty Python had written it, it would be funny. It isn’t funny, it is scary. One can only hope that she scares as many people into NOT voting for her as she does voting for her.

xyzaffair:

It might interest you to know that someone has begun a Michael Palin for president website - and it’s hysterical!  Make sure to watch the video.

http://www.michaelpalinforpresident.com:80/

Peace.

Yes, the right is surreal….but dead serious

I have been-forever-a MONTY PYTHON FAN…..and I can envision SO MANY DIFFERENT TAKES on “moo-sellini”..And now for something completely different…{thank you to the M.P. CREW for that line…it covers SUCH A MULTITUDE of IRONIES…