Re: Obama

[Jeff Shirkey <jcshirke@midway.uchicago.edu>]

BRAINwashing, you mean. 

You just said you haven't lived in this country for the past 7 years, right? Well, first of all--lucky you.

 I find it astonishing, however, that you would be so presumptuous to assume that people who voted for Obama have been "brainwashed" or "tricked" (to quote an earlier email you wrote) without having been here to witness the process play out. I'm not an idiot. I have a Ph.D from one of the finest institutions in the world bar none. No one brainwashed me before I cast my vote. But, fyi, Obama wasn't who I voted for in the primaries. But I support him despite some reservations I have had about his qualifications. More than that, though, I understand the importance of the historical moment, and I feel like a very dark could has begun to lift over this country. I don't understand your insistence on having such contempt for the process and the clear, overwhelming mandate for change that more than half this country voted for.

Besides the emotional rush do you think there will be anything else Americans will get from him?

Of course. But let time be the judge. Much better days are ahead. It just might take a long time to get there thanks to the shit hole we're living in at present.

Jeff