A year on, Americans still wear cheaply made commercial merchandise they bought that night when Obama claimed victory (or that day when Obama was inaugurated). They wear hats that say "President of the United States of America or "HOPE or "CHANGE.
The hats and shirts people wear with Obama's name on them say it all. They say despite my hardship, despite my poverty I push on because you made me believe this country could do better for me and other people some day.
I do not think they know when that will happen. It probably will not happen before Obama's Hope and Change Reunion Tour kicks off in the Spring of 2010 as he fights to maintain the support of those who were die-hard supporters in the spring, summer, and fall of 2008.
They don't know when they will get Medicare for All and have their health care bills significantly reduced, they don't know when they will be able to live a life without fear of having their home foreclosed on, they don't know when they will be sure that their union won't be forced to make concessions which result in a pay cut, they don't know when they can be sure that they will have enough money to help get their sons and daughters through college, they don't know when the next week or the week after they will know if they can afford to pay for all the groceries they need to feed their family--- But the vast majority continue to live knowing the alternatives, giving up or dying, to be worse than the trials and tribulations they are experiencing.
Some turn to communities they live in for support ---churches, neighborhood groups, schools, unions, clubs, family, etc. Some have the courage and wherewithal to point the finger and consider why they live like this ---- why anyone in the world has to live like this.
Why does anyone have to live like that?
How do you sum up this past year and why the answer to one's prayers has taken so long to do what was necessary?
Do you pinpoint American democracy as an utter failure? Do you put the blame on Obama and say he has not been the transformative leader necessary for real change and failed to take on corporate power? Or do you address the psychology of America, the systems that run rampant in America and suck human goodness, kindness, caring, and decency like a leech?
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