Today's the DAY

It's finally here.

The day has come when our country will finally be rid of it's most disasterous president in history. And today our hope will be restored in the intelligent, poised, moral, articulate, strong, empathetic as well as logical; the one and only, Barack Obama.

I can't believe it has been 8 long, chaotic, hopeless and frustrating years, but Bush will at last be gone.

Finally.

What I love most is now we have a president that when he speaks, I really want to listen. It seems as if my ears perk up to that voice, like he could be whispering in a crowd of hundreds, and I could still tune in, because I know his message is worth it.

Before, when Bush was ever on television or on the radio, I would almost always change the channel. I can't stand to hear that man speak... it's like listening to nails on a chalkboard, only with several grammatical errors and a few made-up words tossed in there as well. Bush's speeches and Obama's speeches couldn't be further from one another on the articulatory spectrum. One side inflicts cringes, frustration, anger and shame, while the other inspires, gives hope and restores faith in America.

While it's clear that I was obviously not a fan of Bush, quite rather I despised our former president, I do not think it was all his fault. He had a horrible administration and advisors (a.k.a. Dick Cheney) and it seemed the deeper he dug himself, the more impossible it was for him to resurface.

I very much liked a quote from Adam McKay as spoken to The New York Times (he incidentally is the director of Will Ferrel's debut broadway play—"You're Welcome America"—which will run for a short time beginning inauguration day and ending March 15 at the Cort Theater). McKay said this to describe the main theme of the play, and thus America's previous position:

"It really gets to the question of how Americans covered their eyes and ears for the last eight years, how cowed the media was. I think America got caught at its fattest and laziest, and I say that as someone who is fat and can be lazy."

I agree. We were all at fault. Maybe not at the beginning, where Democracy went by the wayside and allowed Bush to be "elected" in the first place. (And AGAIN—outcomes I still cannot comprehend but only know that some shady business went on in both elections. That being said a fair amount of Germans I encounter here, who, when they find out I am American, ask "Why did you re-elect Bush?" and I say "I did not re-elect Bush, nor did I elect him in the first place. And that goes for most of America I think. Don't ask me how it happened, I also thought America was a Democracy.")

I digress.

Perhaps what grinds my gears most about these past years was the feeling of utter hopelessness and frustration for not being able to change the course of events unfolding before me. To quote Albert Einstein, who said: "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing," to tackle the government by one's lonesome, or perhaps even in groups, is still a task of unbelievable enormity. People tried. People, for the most part, were unsuccessful.

Which brings me to the point of why I, myself, became a journalist. It's quite simple, really. I want to change the world. Don't laugh. I know it's far-fetched, but let me rephrase, and repeat my mantra for why I do the work I do, taken word-for-word from when I first created it the moment I began journalism school:

The day I realized my passion was the day I realized I could perhaps make one small difference in the world by writing about what I have seen and heard, that I might change someone somewhere by truthfully and professionally informing my community, that I could talk to whomever I wished and get the answers I wanted, that all I needed in life was a pen and a pad of paper and I could get by, that my job as an observer is a serious one that I will not compromise—for whenever there has been conflict and war, love and honor, grief and loss, there has been a journalist unnoticed in the background, waiting to tell the story.

But, I have learned a few things since that time. One, not a lot of people like journalists. This observation stands more true in the states than here in Germany. Here, journalists are respected. People WANT to talk to you when you say you are going to write a story about something. In America (now I am generalizing mind you), often I tell people I am a journalist and the most popular response is "Why?" Well, to keep the lines of communication in this world open and to keep people informed. "Yes, but journalism has gone so far down the hill nowadays..."

Ok, well let me ask you this: If journalists are working for media COMPANIES, and the only way to stay afloat is to make a PROFIT, and all the American people want to read about is Britney Spears' latest lapse or what a normal day is like in the lives of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, then why is it journalists' fault? We too, have to make a living.

(By the way I will apologize now for going off on this tangent when I initially intended to write my thoughts about Obama's inauguration and Bush's last day in office, but I am on a roll now and must continue...)

That is, however, not to say that I don't agree that the media has markedly lost some of its credibilty over the years (need I mention Jayson Blair?) but I do think some editors and publishers make decisions in order to please superiors. Lest we forget the massive take over by far-right partisan Rupert Murdoch, who no doubt uses his influence (a.k.a $) to pull several American newspapers and TV stations to favor his side of the political spectrum.

I, too, have been a victim of working with investors of a newspaper, who claim not to be responsible or have an influence on the content of the newspaper in which they are investing. The situation resulted in me being told I couldn't write about politics or the economy anymore because "I had no idea what I was talking about." Well, what I said was that our country was headed toward another Great Depression if people didn't start to change their habits, and I cited the declining employment rate and such. I was told I didn't use facts. I quoted Anna Roosevelt during a speech she made in Santa Fe when she said she also believed we were headed for a bleak future. Not factual enough. The one mistake I did make is when I said we were going to soon experience life as it was in the 20s and 30s, when what I should have said was, the LATE 20s and the 30s. My apologies. But, if I may say so myself, I believe that column was very spot-on. Anyone who has read the news recently would agree.

(If you want to read the column it can be found here: http://nmfreepress.com/2008.shtml. It's issue 15, June 11th.)

And yet, although I was proud of that column, the feedback I received for it didn't leave me aching to produce more like it. It even had me a little afraid to voice my opinion. But, the columnist who bashed Obama every chance he got was welcomed with open arms.

But really, investors don't control content... no way...

Well. there you have it. My little rant on modern journalistic integrity and conglomerate media control. I really hope that with Obama, the lines of communication between a community and its publications are thrown WIDE open, and that people will have the freedom to write whatever they wish.

I also somehow doubt that we will have as much to criticize about our new leader than we did about our old one...

But if, by chance, we do, something tells me that the "real" stories won't be covered up by pictures of Nicole Richie's newest haircut...

GO OBAMA!!! I wish you all the best of luck and am behind you 100 percent!!!