The coverage of the inauguration that built to yesterday's frenzy is remarkable.Some were calling it the day of US liberation, a return to an America we haven't seen in eight years. It's like we escaped from a disaster, overthrew a tyrant, defeated a despotic regime. Given that Bush was, the first time, selected and not elected, as well as the continued accusation that even the 2004 election was stolen, this makes some sense. But it doesn't account for the desperate love that envelops the Obama event.
Some people have already talked about him as a 'world historical individual.' Others view him as some kind of savior. The inauguration was nearly a coronation. It's like he has already solved all the problems.
The desperate love that pours out may be like that of the abused, captured, helpless, when help and relief arrive. It might be a symptom of how deep and broad hatred of Bush and of ourselves had become, how stuck in a nightmare we've been.
But desperate love is not the sentiment of a polity or people yet capable of running its own affairs, of making choices and judgments and sacrifices, perhaps even sacrifices of the extremes of love and hate that have animated us too long.
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