What’s In My Bag: Inaugural Edition

photo uploaded to Flickr by the catalyst…

The First Ten Days, Ten: Onward

Courtesy of Get Your War On, a cartoon that has, like an era, ended.

The First Ten Days, Four: The Call-Out

In every abusive scenario, there’s a finger-wagger.

Just when you get good and sick of your abuser, and kick them to the curb, someone will step in and try to make you question that decision.

You will be reminded, repeatedly, of all the things you were fooled into first liking about the abuser. You will be scolded into gratitude for things they may have done for you. And when all else fails, you will be directed to pity the abuser, to dwell on their suffering instead of your own, and told you’re cold and “just as bad” if you refuse to forgive.

Some of these finger-wagging types stand to benefit from the abuser’s domination of you. They may be kiss-ups, privileged by your oppression, and eager to help the abuser out. Some of them are toadies, wannabe-bullies, who get their shots in once you’re weakened. And some of them are just in denial, still in love with the abuser for reasons of their own, eager to maintain a status quo they haven’t quite managed to see through yet.

Sometimes they fool you into staying, a little while longer. Sometimes they don’t.

One thing they cannot ever do, is make abuse anything other than what it is.

I have been hearing much talk lately about the “class” Bush has shown, letting go of his power without a fuss. Is this class? I’ve heard calls from the media to be “thankful” for his transparency towards Obama during this transition. Is this worthy of gratitude? We are showing an abuser the door. We have no obligation to thank him for leaving civilly.

Don’t waste your pity on this beaten man. Don’t feel sad or embarrassed for him, that several million of his former constituents booed him as he entered the Inaugural stands. He earned so much worse.

The only thing I’m willing to thank Bush for is the fact that he remained unrepentant through his final days and hours in office, instead of conceding his defeat eight years too late. He stayed contemptible and irrelevant, instead of throwing himself self-centeredly on the mercy of an American public that was rightfully focused on Obama’s well-earned glory.

I thank him for keeping out of sight. I wish he’d just done that in the first place.

The First Ten Days, Three: Mexico City

President Barack Obama just rescinded the Global Gag Rule:

“It is clear that the provisions of the Mexico City Policy are unnecessarily broad and unwarranted under current law, and for the past eight years, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning in developing countries.  For these reasons, it is right for us to rescind this policy and restore critical efforts to protect and empower women and promote global economic development.

“For too long, international family planning assistance has been used as a political wedge issue, the subject of a back and forth debate that has served only to divide us.  I have no desire to continue this stale and fruitless debate.

“It is time that we end the politicization of this issue.  In the coming weeks, my Administration will initiate a fresh conversation on family planning, working to find areas of common ground to best meet the needs of women and families at home and around the world.

“I have directed my staff to reach out to those on all sides of this issue to achieve the goal of reducing unintended pregnancies.  They will also work to promote safe motherhood, reduce maternal and infant mortality rates and increase educational and economic opportunities for women and girls.

“In addition, I look forward to working with Congress to restore U.S. financial support for the U.N. Population Fund.  By resuming funding to UNFPA, the U.S. will be joining 180 other donor nations working collaboratively to reduce poverty, improve the health of women and children, prevent HIV/AIDS and provide family planning assistance to women in 154 countries.”

The First Ten Days, Two: Guantanamo

It’s been a not-so-secret shame for seven years, a cold siege engine sapping America’s heart.

Within a year, it will be no more.

Today, President Obama signed orders that will close the detention facility, just as he repeatedly promised he would. It makes me glad that it is one of his first acts. Because the existence of that prison, and the things reportedly done there, have gnawed at me for the better part of a decade.

It’s hard to pinpoint the worst moral failure of the Bush administration; there are so many to choose from. But in eight years, Guantanamo Bay stands as one of the most symbolic of everything that went wrong with us.

We used to be the moral light of the world. An imperfect light; but one that was constantly striving to right itself. The authorization, and years-long validation, of this torture facility has made a mockery of those former ideals. And I don’t say that to be dramatic—honor, true justice, human rights and fairness to all people have been ridiculed and laughed at…not by some third-world despot, but by us.

We need to close this place. We need to burn it, let the land lay fallow. Let the Cubans come in and plant tobacco on it for some fine cigars, I don’t care.

Get it shut, Mr. President. If you do nothing else, your election will have been a success.

Thank you, from the bottom of one American’s heart.

~~~

The executive orders regarding Guantanamo, per the White House website:

• Calling for the closure of the Guantanamo detention center within one year
• Creating a Special Task Force to review detainee policy going forward
• Ensuring lawful interrogations by requiring that all interrogations of detainees in armed conflict follow the Army Field Manual interrogation guidelines

The First Ten Days, One: Renewal And Reconciliation

President Barack Obama’s first proclamation. He’s started off well:

A PROCLAMATION

“As I take the sacred oath of the highest office in the land, I am humbled by the responsibility placed upon my shoulders, renewed by the courage and decency of the American people, and fortified by my faith in an awesome God.

“We are in the midst of a season of trial. Our Nation is being tested, and our people know great uncertainty. Yet the story of America is one of renewal in the face of adversity, reconciliation in a time of discord, and we know that there is a purpose for everything under heaven.

“On this Inauguration Day, we are reminded that we are heirs to over two centuries of American democracy, and that this legacy is not simply a birthright — it is a glorious burden. Now it falls to us to come together as a people to carry it forward once more.

“So in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, let us remember that: “The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

“NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 20, 2009, a National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation, and call upon all of our citizens to serve one another and the common purpose of remaking this Nation for our new century.

“IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.”

Inauguration: Night

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