The world as we know it is crumbling around us in small and large explosions - 9/11, Katrina and friends, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the credit crunch, the end of investment banks, war(s), genocide(s) - leaving me with a pretty bleak outlook. Everyone is waiting with bated breaths for the President-elect Barack "Messiah" Hussein Obama to perform his magic and bring about categorical, wholesale change.
I haven't lost hope or any faith in this man, but one can tell that the weight of the world lies heavily on his shoulders. He is only one man, so I'm crossing my fingers that he doesn't collapse under the weight of the world's expectations. My only hope is that Obama and his staff (because governing is not the result of one man's effort) never loses sight of the larger picture. He has proven himself brilliant at perceiving the nuances of complex issues, and understanding that nothing is black and white, red or blue, or even gray or purple. As Thomas Friedman succinctly said, "I'm not a partisan. I'm not at war with Republicans or liberal Democrats. Most people are like that. They're not hyper-partisan--they just want you to come up with the right answer."* And the right answers are investing in the long-term, never compromising the future of our country for short-term relief, and holding onto integrity despite and in spite of 'the way things are done' in Washington.
One imperative issue that cannot slip off Obama's administration's radar: EDUCATION.
*From The New Yorker, "The Bright Side" by Ian Parker (November 10, 2008)
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