Okay that joke's a little old by this point in the evening but I wasn't going to give it up.
I just watched the President give a speech during which he told us, "tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to." I guess that was supposed to be an inspirational rhetorical turn, but to me it seemed a strangely inappropriate way to describe a bloody commando assassination raid. Maybe it would have sounded better if he had worn a flight suit or something.
Even more bizarrely, cable news is showing me pictures of people lining the streets in Washington and in New York in utter ecstasy over what amounts to yet one more kill in what has been a decade of mayhem. When I heard the news of Bin Laden's death, I think I processed for the first time just how long this ordeal has been going on. What a horrible frightening and deeply disappointing age we've been living through. An event like this only provides further occasion to reflect on that horror. But watching the crowd, I'm expecting Obama to come riding by on the SS Endymion waving Bin Laden's head in one hand and the Lombardi Trophy in the other. What is going on?
Perhaps the jubilation would be appropriate if it meant the multiple wars were really over, or the Patriot Act was repealed, or we could go back to carrying liquid with us on the airplane. But Obama didn't tell us anything about that tonight. Maybe he's waiting for gas prices to come back down first. Or maybe he's waiting for that one Munchkin to come out and sing about the death certification. Or maybe he just doesn't know who gets Bin Laden's slippers yet.
Anyway, I guess that's done. Surely soon someone will explain how it came to be that Bin Laden had been "hiding" in a large urban mansion all this time. Probably something to do with hating freedom.
No comments:
Post a Comment