indignation

This inauguration cover of The New Yorker made conservative heads explode. As one Facebook friend put it, “Another example of the media setting unbelievably high expectations.”

First of all, the cover is only drawing a comparison between President Barack Obama and President George Washington because both were firsts. (Pssst. Barack Obama is a black man and no black person has ever been president.)

But on to the expectations. Granted, some people have ridiculous expectations of our new president. FOX News (of course) had video of some woman saying an Obama administration would mean that she can buy a house and afford groceries and have affordable health care. Those may be unreasonable expecations.

But what are those expectations born from? Could it be that eight years of a dismal administration, compromised values, ballooning government, warrantless wiretapping, war, opaque governing, mishandled disaster relief, culminating with our economy in the toilet, have led us to some pie-in-the-sky dreams?

I think a lot of folks are hoping an Obama administration just gets us back where we were before the Bush administration. It was a time of prosperous peace. People had jobs. Government was more open. We weren’t being spied upon. We did not torture people. Are those expectations so unrealistic?

Think about it this way: It’s the starving person that dreams of a four-course meal, but will be more than happy with a bowl of soup. Soup is on!

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