I can’t believe it came as much of a surprise that we’ve been in a recession since last December. Of course, we all probably hoped the recession wouldn’t prove to be as long or as deep as some projected. Well, now that we know we’re a year in, we can hope that the end is in sight.
What’s not to like about hope, right? Face it, our capacity to hope, even when faced with external forces beyond our control or internal demons that pull us towards the abyss, is truly astounding. Though we currently have reason to despair – over the economy, over the constant threat of terrorism (and now piracy!), or over the fact that home ownership, health care coverage and now higher education seem to be out of reach for many Americans – we can rejoice, my friends, because hope floats above the gray skies of our nation’s capitol. Probably not precisely the hope our newly-elected President was thinking about when he wrote his best-seller but we’ll take what we can, er, hope for.
Democrats may have to give up their hopes for a filibuster-proof Senate but they still hope for enough muscle to engage in payback. Republicans hope to escape severe reprisals and experience the kind of bipartisan cooperation they never considered back in the days of their ascendancy. Liberal elements of the Democratic Party hope Obama’s choice of so many Clinton advisers doesn’t signal a move to the center-right; moderates and even conservatives feel they have reason to hope it signals an non-partisan pragmatism. State Department types hope Secretary of State nominee Hillary Clinton will rely on their hard-earned expertise. Fans of Governor Bill Richardson hope he’s not too upset about being bypassed for Secretary of State. Fans of Governor Janet Napolitano hope she’ll get Homeland Security organized. Although former Senator Tom Daschle may have hoped to be Chief of Staff, health care advocates feel hopeful he’ll jump-start reform.
Of course, the current Treasury Secretary Paulson hopes his ever-changing game plan works for the economy and the Big Three auto makers hope for a windfall. That’s where hope gets audacious but then again, if you’re going to hope, why not hope big?
Comics hope they’ll be able to find something funny about the new administration (hint: look at the Cabinet). Dog lovers hope the Obamas discover hypo-allergenic mixed breeds besides the Peruvian hairless dog. Classmates at Sidwell Friends, where the Obama girls will attend school, hope they’ll get invited to a party at the White House. Actually, DC hostesses and club owners alike are hoping members of the new administration will want to party. Almost anyone who did anything in any field office during the Obama campaign now hopes to work in the Obama administration. Millions of people hope to get Inaugural tickets or attend even if they don’t. DC-area residents hope to get obscene amounts of money for their humble abodes as hotels fill to over-capacity. District police, not to mention Federal security agencies, hope they can handle the record number of visitors expected for the events. NBC hopes David Gregory will be happy hosting “Meet the Press” until Matt Lauer retires from the “Today” show to do something else – like, say evening anchor at CBS.
It’s good to have hope.
1 Woman' s Vu by Nikki Stern 
My hope is that the Bush Administration gets what’s coming to them…incarceration. But that hope won’t become a reality, I’m afraid, so I’ll settle on history writing this era off as the worst era for the US since segregation was legal.
When we look at the polarities of wealth our country breeds, we need not look further than the rape of the economy by Wall Street and corporations. Having underregulated an industry that handled money, our government turned a blind eye toward the pilfering of such astronomical amounts of money no living person could ever spend in a lifetime.
Shame, shame on those who profited and still continue to from war. Shame, shame on those who stole the pensions from people close to retirement to enhance their own portfolios. Shame, shame on a government that entered the White House with an agenda that wouldn’t be deterred, no matter what the reality on the ground and in the real world. It was almost as if we were being run by a movie character like Dr. Evil from Austin Powers, rubbing his hands thinking about “world domination”.
The audacity of hope is that this era is over. We all know, however, that greed doesn’t sleep and power corrupts.
I’ll settle for wishful thinking just in case hope doesn’t cut it.
David Plouffe’s (Obama’s marketing guru)
Biggest mistake or Simply Genius?
Mr.Plouffe overlooked the purchase of his domain name (www.) for his upcoming book, tentatively titled The Audacity to Win, referencing Obama’s The Audacity of Hope.
I purchased the name when I (surprisingly)
saw that it was available and would love to get this site going ! For those into this kinda stuff.. ..you probably get the enormity of what this could be..
everyone else that isnt quite sure…trust me.. its pretty neat !!!
Check out my blog http://www.Audacitytowin.com
Express your opinion!
Thanks,
Kate