"Gonna send you back to Texas, make you work on your ranch"
"Country held hostage for four more years"...
is says on the front page of the Absolute Outrage Yahoo! group.
Well, we gazed wistfully at the countdown clocks for lo these many
years. Funny how time slows to a crawl while the nation goes to Hell
in a hand basket both in the eyes of the world and to our own citizenry.
Well, today is January 20th, 2009.
The day we've all been waiting for.
If you've listened to NPR or watched C-Span or, well, you know, seen a
magazine, turned on the TV or a radio or logged into the internet
during the last week, you know about the waves of hope and optimism
clutching the nation in the face of unprecedented challenges. You know
the joy and elation many people are feeling over the incoming President.
Whether he can restore the nation to Clinton levels of economic
recovery in four years or end a war - or two - in eight, whether he can
shut down Guantanamo Bay and convince the world that the torture of
interrogation suspects is now off the table as official US policy,
well, whether he succeeds in half the things we imagine he might be
able to do or whether he stumbles and fails, right now we face a new
future with hope for change and belief in a chance to set things right.
The eye of the media has been on Washington DC and the activities of
the incoming regime.
But here at Absolute Outrage we have impatiently watched the days,
weeks, months and years tick slowly by. Our departing Resident, Shrub
Dubya Junior, is slipping out under the radar with even his multiple
network Farewell Address getting barely a ripple of attention, minimal
talk show monologue mentions and little notice beyond the occasional
single finger salute.
America is so proud to have a new president riding in with a
remarkable approval rating that has been reported by various sources
to range from 60 to 80% - meaning that he has won over supporters from
the camp that voted against him - that we cannot wait to forget the
man whose approval rating hovered for much of the final quarter of his
administration near 25%.
There are those of us among the Baby Boomer generation who place an
almost magical amount of attention on the popular music of our youth,
so much of which, from the Summer of Love in 1967 to the release of
the Beatles White album in 1968 we have been commemorating with 40th
anniversary observations.
We believe in the profundity of rock lyrics and the efficacy of a good
Beatles or Dylan quote.
Certainly many in the media noted and obsessed over the proximity of
President Barack Obama's inauguration with the Martin Luther Kind Day
holiday and drew comparisons to speeches made now and 40 and 45 years
ago.
Well, 40 years ago, as Richard Milhous Nixon was sworn in, President
Lyndon Baines Johnson left office and returned to his home in Texas,
just as the Shrub will now be doing.
I would like to dedicate the following song to Dubya - something for
him to listen to on his flight back to Crawford County.
------------
Superbird
by Country Joe and the Fish
Look, up yonder in the sky, now, what is that I pray ?
It's a bird it's a plane, it's a man insane, it's my President LBJ
He's flying high way up in the sky just like Superman,
But I have got a little piece of kryptonite,
Yes, I'll bring him back to land.
Said come out Lyndon with your hands held high,
Drop your guns, baby, and reach for the sky.
I've got you surrounded and you ain't got a chance,
Gonna send you back to Texas, make you work on your ranch,
Yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
He can call Super Woman and his Super Dogs,
But it sure won't do him no good,
Yeah, I found out why from a Russian spy
That he ain't nothing but a comic book.
We'll pull him off the stands and clean up the land,
Yes, we'll have us a brand new day.
What is more I got the Fantastic Four
And Doctor Strange to help him on his way.
Said come out Lyndon with your hands held high,
Drop your guns, baby, and reach for the sky.
We got you surrounded and you ain't got a chance,
Gonna send you back to Texas make you work on your ranch,
Yeah yeah, oh yeah.
--------------------
Farewell, W.
You leave office with a bloody smoldering legacy.
With America's prestige tarnished in the eyes of the world.
With several thousand flag draped coffins standing in the places where
some of America's best and bravest once stood.
With a national debt now counted in the trillions.
Far from the worst of your offenses, but for a long time now we will
continue to wince and cringe whenever we hear a radio or television
stations call letters, be it WYCE-FM or WOOD- TV. We will have a
Pavlovian response, as fearful as a beaten dog at the sound of your
initial letter, W.
That is your legacy, W.; you have ruined a Goddamned letter of the
alphabet.
-----------------
Is it time to move on, forget, look forward?
Maybe, in a few hours, after America's bright new hope is sworn into
office.
But in these late hours, while Shrub sleeps or, perhaps, sits in the
Oval Office and gazes out at what he has wrought one last time, it is
hard to resist one last chance to get the boot in, as they say in England.
I have read that Prince George has told reporters that his biggest
regret is the way so many of his citizens seem to have turned against
him so brutally. The public, the polls, the pundits, the media have
treated him so harshly and with such anger and fury that it has broken
through his shields and hurt his feelings.
Awww... (tiny violin gesture).
It has happened time and again. The nation turned on Johnson in times
of war but sympathized with his regrets and forgave him once he let
his hair grow out a few inches in the back.
Nixon was perhaps the most hated and vilified leader out country has
ever had, and yet at his funeral the list of his accomplishments
seemed both sincere and impressive.
To some of us in his home town Jerry Ford's had a long legacy but the
centerpiece of it had to be "the man who pardoned that son-of-a-b*tch
Nixon," and yet at his funeral we were reminded of how he reunited a
nation torn asunder internally by strife and protest and cultural
revolution.
Jimmy Carter entered office with a wave of post-Nixon/Ford era
optimism and hope and left those who thought he'd accomplish more or
be stronger in the face of foreign bullies disappointed. He's still
with us, but no doubt many have forgiven him for his shortcomigs and
many more will when he is gone.
And it is possible to think that someday the orators and commentators
and revisionist historians speaking over Dubya's grave will paint a
glowing portrait of his accomplishments and place a positive spin on
his legacy.
It is possible, but I don't see it.
Future generations may look back and find out what went right in these
last eight years. Re-examine, reinterpret, and forgive.
But not those of us who had to live though it.
It is human nature to be touched by the image of the crying clown - to
feel the heartbreak of the well intentioned bumbler whose best laid
plans went awry.
But hurt feelings are nothing compared to what he has done to us.
It is human nature to forgive.
But not for W.
Not today.
I can't speak for forever,
but not for a very long time.
Not for W.
No.
= Napoleon Park =
is says on the front page of the Absolute Outrage Yahoo! group.
Well, we gazed wistfully at the countdown clocks for lo these many
years. Funny how time slows to a crawl while the nation goes to Hell
in a hand basket both in the eyes of the world and to our own citizenry.
Well, today is January 20th, 2009.
The day we've all been waiting for.
If you've listened to NPR or watched C-Span or, well, you know, seen a
magazine, turned on the TV or a radio or logged into the internet
during the last week, you know about the waves of hope and optimism
clutching the nation in the face of unprecedented challenges. You know
the joy and elation many people are feeling over the incoming President.
Whether he can restore the nation to Clinton levels of economic
recovery in four years or end a war - or two - in eight, whether he can
shut down Guantanamo Bay and convince the world that the torture of
interrogation suspects is now off the table as official US policy,
well, whether he succeeds in half the things we imagine he might be
able to do or whether he stumbles and fails, right now we face a new
future with hope for change and belief in a chance to set things right.
The eye of the media has been on Washington DC and the activities of
the incoming regime.
But here at Absolute Outrage we have impatiently watched the days,
weeks, months and years tick slowly by. Our departing Resident, Shrub
Dubya Junior, is slipping out under the radar with even his multiple
network Farewell Address getting barely a ripple of attention, minimal
talk show monologue mentions and little notice beyond the occasional
single finger salute.
America is so proud to have a new president riding in with a
remarkable approval rating that has been reported by various sources
to range from 60 to 80% - meaning that he has won over supporters from
the camp that voted against him - that we cannot wait to forget the
man whose approval rating hovered for much of the final quarter of his
administration near 25%.
There are those of us among the Baby Boomer generation who place an
almost magical amount of attention on the popular music of our youth,
so much of which, from the Summer of Love in 1967 to the release of
the Beatles White album in 1968 we have been commemorating with 40th
anniversary observations.
We believe in the profundity of rock lyrics and the efficacy of a good
Beatles or Dylan quote.
Certainly many in the media noted and obsessed over the proximity of
President Barack Obama's inauguration with the Martin Luther Kind Day
holiday and drew comparisons to speeches made now and 40 and 45 years
ago.
Well, 40 years ago, as Richard Milhous Nixon was sworn in, President
Lyndon Baines Johnson left office and returned to his home in Texas,
just as the Shrub will now be doing.
I would like to dedicate the following song to Dubya - something for
him to listen to on his flight back to Crawford County.
------------
Superbird
by Country Joe and the Fish
Look, up yonder in the sky, now, what is that I pray ?
It's a bird it's a plane, it's a man insane, it's my President LBJ
He's flying high way up in the sky just like Superman,
But I have got a little piece of kryptonite,
Yes, I'll bring him back to land.
Said come out Lyndon with your hands held high,
Drop your guns, baby, and reach for the sky.
I've got you surrounded and you ain't got a chance,
Gonna send you back to Texas, make you work on your ranch,
Yeah, yeah, oh yeah.
He can call Super Woman and his Super Dogs,
But it sure won't do him no good,
Yeah, I found out why from a Russian spy
That he ain't nothing but a comic book.
We'll pull him off the stands and clean up the land,
Yes, we'll have us a brand new day.
What is more I got the Fantastic Four
And Doctor Strange to help him on his way.
Said come out Lyndon with your hands held high,
Drop your guns, baby, and reach for the sky.
We got you surrounded and you ain't got a chance,
Gonna send you back to Texas make you work on your ranch,
Yeah yeah, oh yeah.
--------------------
Farewell, W.
You leave office with a bloody smoldering legacy.
With America's prestige tarnished in the eyes of the world.
With several thousand flag draped coffins standing in the places where
some of America's best and bravest once stood.
With a national debt now counted in the trillions.
Far from the worst of your offenses, but for a long time now we will
continue to wince and cringe whenever we hear a radio or television
stations call letters, be it WYCE-FM or WOOD- TV. We will have a
Pavlovian response, as fearful as a beaten dog at the sound of your
initial letter, W.
That is your legacy, W.; you have ruined a Goddamned letter of the
alphabet.
-----------------
Is it time to move on, forget, look forward?
Maybe, in a few hours, after America's bright new hope is sworn into
office.
But in these late hours, while Shrub sleeps or, perhaps, sits in the
Oval Office and gazes out at what he has wrought one last time, it is
hard to resist one last chance to get the boot in, as they say in England.
I have read that Prince George has told reporters that his biggest
regret is the way so many of his citizens seem to have turned against
him so brutally. The public, the polls, the pundits, the media have
treated him so harshly and with such anger and fury that it has broken
through his shields and hurt his feelings.
Awww... (tiny violin gesture).
It has happened time and again. The nation turned on Johnson in times
of war but sympathized with his regrets and forgave him once he let
his hair grow out a few inches in the back.
Nixon was perhaps the most hated and vilified leader out country has
ever had, and yet at his funeral the list of his accomplishments
seemed both sincere and impressive.
To some of us in his home town Jerry Ford's had a long legacy but the
centerpiece of it had to be "the man who pardoned that son-of-a-b*tch
Nixon," and yet at his funeral we were reminded of how he reunited a
nation torn asunder internally by strife and protest and cultural
revolution.
Jimmy Carter entered office with a wave of post-Nixon/Ford era
optimism and hope and left those who thought he'd accomplish more or
be stronger in the face of foreign bullies disappointed. He's still
with us, but no doubt many have forgiven him for his shortcomigs and
many more will when he is gone.
And it is possible to think that someday the orators and commentators
and revisionist historians speaking over Dubya's grave will paint a
glowing portrait of his accomplishments and place a positive spin on
his legacy.
It is possible, but I don't see it.
Future generations may look back and find out what went right in these
last eight years. Re-examine, reinterpret, and forgive.
But not those of us who had to live though it.
It is human nature to be touched by the image of the crying clown - to
feel the heartbreak of the well intentioned bumbler whose best laid
plans went awry.
But hurt feelings are nothing compared to what he has done to us.
It is human nature to forgive.
But not for W.
Not today.
I can't speak for forever,
but not for a very long time.
Not for W.
No.
= Napoleon Park =
Labels: editorial
posted by Napoleon Park at 2:13 AM
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