hope, change, fear and the chocolate city

there's something about being on the cusp of a profound historical moment - obama's inauguration, for those rock-dwellers among us :) - that makes you wonder about innocence and optimism and hope.. and whether or not all of those things inside us will be justified by this presidency. it was politically savvy of centrist obama to stay silent about the atrocities in gaza, to leave things to the outgoing fratboy's administration while the latter still has his digs at the white house. but being politically savvy doesn't equal morally righteous, and this silence left me feeling like i was holding my breath - the euphoria from november 4 having waned a little, the world of realpolitik worrying itself into all that outsized, americanized hope. poking, prodding.. nagging little strains of 'grow up. grow up! now you'll see that 'change' isn't all it's cracked up to be!'

hillary clinton as secretary of state isn't exactly my ideal, peacenik feminist archetype. and sending more troops into afghanistan? and on and on we go.. i feel hope, but i feel like we have to claw at it with everything we've got.

i'll be going to a party in jakarta tomorrow to watch the inauguration. side by side with diehard obama fanatics, basking in the televised celebration, the red-white-and-blue elation, the photogenic, multiracial sensation being sworn into the oval office. and i'll feel as proud of that moment as anybody standing head-to-toe in barry o paraphernalia. i don't doubt that the world needs the man to set things right, and that he has the ability and compassion to do this. but i'll still be holding my breath.. just a little.