Jumping Through Hoops

I watched Barack Obama a few years ago on the day of his inauguration. People with tears in their eyes as a historical change took place in the United States. After watching the world take a sharp downturn thanks to the foreign war-mongering of Kindergarten President, George W. Bush, the World did need a shake-up and it seemed that the man to do that was Barack Obama.

After a promising start he steered away from austerity and went for stimulus instead, as well as being the driving force behind just and social equality when it came to health care in the country he was elected to preside over. He even won a noble peace prize.
But as time has slipped by, the wars raged on, we've learned that the stimulus money has gone to the failed and most disturbingly of all, the ones that governed over the economic collapse of 2008 are still steering the ship and allowed to do so by whom? Yes, Mr. Obama.

They say hope springs eternal and let's face it, people buy into it in more ways than i have time to write about. And so it should, for without hope people go their own way and the results of that are evident in every major city of the United States of America today. The Americans seem to invent wars that are by their nature un-winnable. You wonder why, until you see military spending makes up 21% of total spend in the US and yet the world continues to fall to pieces. That's a heck of a lot of profiteering by some.
The truth is the Presidency of the US is not what people make it out to be. It's a Wall Street position and any president who went against the economic thinking of their time, well it's recorded in history what fate they met.
I do believe Obama's hands are tied and he can't begin to be effective in the way he thought he might have been.

There's no doubt the guy has charisma, talent and even an aura about him. His speaking prowess and the way he can capture and engage throngs of people is testament to that. I'd reckon a lot of folk would would like to shoot a few hoops and drink a Bud with him.
There was an image of him captured recently which fails to mask his struggle as he voyeuristically watched an unarmed man - pariah, or otherwise - meet his fate by his order. These are the decisions you accept when you choose to lead, whether they be for the right reason or the wrong. What played out on that evening was the mainstream republicizing of a democratic leader, before the re-election bandwagon heads off state wide to secure another four years in the Oval Office. Biden with rosary beads? Come on! You'd have to go to the studio lots in LA to see it play out any better.

Some people have the ability to sell sand to Arabs or ice to Eskimo's. For a day yesterday Obama and his wife did themselves proud as they wooed every single person aware of their visit. They did all the right things and it came natural to them. Greet and meets, speeches we have all heard and bought into before and even a pint of the black stuff.
As an opportunity to secure a high proportion of the Irish vote in next years election and a chance for Ireland to show off her charm it went off spectacularly well, leaving this small incident to one side.

Enda must be in dreamland with all this attention deflecting from the way this country has hit a brick wall and is fast on her way to defaulting on the criminal debt put upon us by people who walk around to this very day, accountable to no-one.
Like so much in our recent and plagued past, silence and the hope that it will all go away never really serves any great purpose. With the horrifying allegations made against Irish missionaries abroad and the abuse of children on last night's Prime Time Investigates, it's not hard to see how the moral fabric of our society is in serious danger of turning nihilistic and that will be tough to address. It's alright shouting, 'Yes, we can' to people who buy into most things on any given day because their TV tells them to, but perhaps the best question that no-one seems to be asking right now is, 'How can we?'
There may be reasons for not asking that question, because the only answers you will ever hear come from financial sharks who are in total control of everything. To say otherwise is being ignorant of fact. They continue to do as they see fit without fear of any retribution, here, in America and in many more lands.
That should tell any logical person not licking someones hole to further themselves how things are really run. It's not going to change anytime soon, if indeed, at all. It's all just fan-fare and razzmatazz playing out on the minds of those who do as they are told and except all without questioning. Sure it might fill a few hotel rooms and sell a few kegs more. But I guess that's what free-for-all capitalism aspires to at the expense of society.

The American Dream, as George Carlin once said, 'is there. You just have to be asleep to believe it.'