The verdict’s in, folks—I won’t be coming back to UHart until Fall. I’m in Washington right now, studying Foreign Policy at American University, hence the lack of posts. Sorry about that, folks. Anyway, it’s been crazy. Since last week, I’ve been in whirlwind meetings and classes. On the first day of class, I went to a symposium featuring luminaries such as Gen. Petraeus, Richard Armitage, Madeline Albright, and others. Capitol Hill’s fantastic, and it’s so easy to get around here. The Metro, DC’s subway system, runs throughout the city, much like New York’s, only on a smaller scale. Another thing—I’ve heard that it’s colder in higher places, but Washington exemplifies this: it’s coldest on the Hill, but becomes warmer after only a few blocks. The city has possibly the strangest climate ever—with the possible exemption of Barrow, Alaska, which experiences annual 2-month dark periods during winters. Classes are fun, I won’t lie—45-page research papers and all.
You think you’ve heard about Washington’s inauguration preparations? Unless you’re living here, you seriously have no idea. Half of Capitol Hill has been sequined off for construction, and there’s a large build effort going on at the Capitol. The White House is enlisting over 5,000 volunteers for the Day, and the entire city is already packed. In addition, I saw Obama speak live yesterday. That in itself was AMAZING!!!!
I think it’s great that we’ve elected—and will soon be inaugurating—an African-American president. It’s not just because I’m of the same ethnicity that I’m saying this, but because of the possibility that it will change global comparisons of ability to color, and related comparisons. How is it, one might ask, That a country whose majority, for a good part of its history, attempted to withhold the rights of an entire people, now has chosen to elect one whose race was the object of said oppression? To answer this question, I would simply cite a combination of public dissatisfaction with government in its usual incarnation, a desire for (yes, you got it) a change therein, and a realization that ability is not related to color, or to sexual orientation, or economic status, etc. Though it is my only my opinion, and therefore subject to error, Obama’s not doing a bad job so far. He’s brought in economic officials from the Clinton administration and kept R. Gates as Defense Secretary, which, I feel, is a fantastic move: he’s kept the one person able to give Democrats express knowledge on the most vital aspects of our Middle East campaign while simultaneously ensuring, mostly anyway, that the Democrat-ruled Congress will be able to pressure him out of any decisions otherwise detrimental and/or contrary to both American public interest and the White House’s goal of putting pressure on Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden and destroy al-Qaeda–not on Iraq, whose only major benefit to American interest is its vast quantities of oil, the use of which is progressively contributing to the spoiling of the Earth’s environment (but that’s a story for another post). The mere fact that I’m alive to see this happen gives me hope for the future. Though, whether Obama will be able to shoulder the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression whilst simultaneously searching for an alternative, yet mutually favorable, conclusion to America’s conflict with the Middle East is yet to be seen. Let us hope.
