Is Obama Our “Happy Ending”?

We have all seen it countless times in movies and television. An evil comes and ruins a once great society. A young upstart emerges from nowhere and goes on an epic and historic quest to combat the evil in a fight there is no way that he can possibly win. Eventually our hero does win and in the last 10 minutes of the film sets right every wrong done by whatever evil had befallen his world and everyone lives happily ever after. So where is America’s hero? Where is our happy ending?

America is currently plagued with problems that seem to come straight from some sort of evil empire. We are waging wars where our young men and women die against the populace’s wishes, we are going through one of the worst recessions our country has ever seen, the poor become poorer and lose their houses, oil barons reap historic profits while Americans suffer at the pump, government agencies torture, spy on and imprison innocent people without trial or due process and we are on the brink of being led into a third world war by a president that the country does not want in office. It seems that no matter what we, as Americans, do nothing will ever change. So where is our hero?

Barack Obama has all of the characteristics of the classic hero. He is young, charismatic, and has seemingly come from nowhere. He preaches change; change from the ways of Bush, change from the ways of the evil empire, change back to what America really should be. He has even overcome a heavily favored candidate to secure a nomination that seems very, very likely to take him to the White House. So is Obama our happy ending?

Yes and no. Obama preaches change, and as far as anyone can tell right now he is intent on delivering it. He has already stated that upon being elected he would immediately review all of the laws Bush has passed and ensure that they are constitutional, and has swore to overturn those that aren’t. However, at the same time he sits in the Senate and upholds the FISA bill that allows for illegal warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. Obama also promises he would pull us out of the war with Iraq. This simple act alone would inject $12 billion dollars a month back into the American economy, hopefully stimulating growth. Obama also believes that mortgage lenders need to be held responsible for their shady practices. He even promises a total restructuring of Bush’s “failed economic policies” and is willing to act diplomatically overseas where Bush’s ineptitude and arrogance kept him from achieving any progress.

All of these sweeping changes truly do make Obama seem like America’s hero come to end our suffering under the tyrannical government of the Bush administration. However, as every American who watches politics knows, the American political system is a dirty and corrupting thing. Obama could be our hero, and I truly hope he is, but keep an eye open for changes in his opinions on more “controversial” issues as the election moves forward. Will Obama stay strong enough to truly clean house and set this country back on track? We all had better hope so.