Fred Pohl on Obama

Legendary author Fred Pohl writes (on his blog?!):

You said you wanted to be the president of all Americans, not just the ones who voted for you. That’s a pretty sentiment. It has been adopted — at least rhetorically — by just about every elected official in America since the Dutch ruled New Amsterdam, and if there is one of them that ever has put that principle into practice once elected, his name escapes me.

But look what you did, President Obama. The pastor of your church made some repellently unpatriotic remarks about the American treatment of African Americans. Others you have chosen to honor were gays or gay-bashers, liberals or conservatives, and a storm of disapproval rose against each one of them.

I am not privy to your thoughts, President Obama, but I think I see what you are doing. You are putting into practice that famous, and famously neglected, Golden Rule, “You and I disagree on some issues, but let’s work together on the others anyway, so we can jointly keep making the world a better place.” So there you have struck heavy — I hope mortal — blows against two of the most crippling evils in American polity. Don’t stop.

Yes please.

Day One

I guess this shouldn't come as any kind of surprise, but everyone I've passed has smiled at me today. Co-workers, strangers, clerks and even my own kids. Well, not the crossing guards in my neighborhood - they scowl at everyone. I don't know what they can be so angry about all the time, but standing out in the cold for hours at a time to safeguard people who despise you can't exactly be chicken soup for the civil servant soul.

We've only been living in Obamatopia for a few hours, but there are already changes afoot. The White House site has a blog - and a feed. Since the majority of people I meet don't know what my "go tell it to your blog" t-shirt means, I think this is huge step. Between that and the weekly video podcasts, we're finally getting a president who, even if he doesn't understand the technology itself, understands its importance for communicating directly with his constituents. Hell, they added a twitter account! But we ought to expect that from a president younger than one of the kids from Beverly Hills 90210. 

I don't know what we can expect from the next four years, but everything seems exciting today. A Nigerian co-worker's sister flew in from London to see the inauguration. My office sent out a reminder to come watch the inauguration on the television in the lobby. And much as I don't like all the historical comparisons that have been floating around, I realized what the boomers have been saying about Kennedy all these years: I don't worry that Obama will disappoint us, but that we'll disappoint him.

Let's try not to.