Millions of Americans voted for Barack Obama in hopes that the new president would reverse the policies of GW Bush. No more torture. No more Guantanamo Bay. No wars. A rejection of the Patriot Act. The end of internal wiretapping of US citizens. No more rendition flights. I danced in the streets that November evening. I cried thinking that over 40 years of bad government were coming to an end. Other men my age also had tears in their eyes. We remembered the promise of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Our dreams then were possible once more.
America was ours again.
9 months later the USA hasn’t changed at all. We are fighting two wars in Asia. Drones kill people in other countries. Hit squads murder suspected terrorists. Guantanamo Bay operates under new guidelines. There is still no habeus corpus under the Patriot Act and torture remains a state policy. Rendition removes threats and the NSA listens to everyone asking, “Can you hear me?”
The answer is yes.
America 2009 is the America of 2008.
GW Bush only appears at Texas football games.
Dick Cheney shows up on Fox News.
Glenn Beck got the keys to his hometown.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
To say the least I’m disappointed, but I have my hopes.
Without them what’s the use?
Obama will do what he said.
Free this fucking country.
Yes he will.