I Got Complacent

I majored in Journalism but never did anything with it.  One of my Republican friends (who I like and respect) posted about Meryl Streep's speech (he thought Emma Stone's was better) and I responded that I thought Meryl's was terrific (and I will YT Emma's later).  Meryl's speech was short, sweet, to the point - and done in a classy manner without calling Trump out by name.  I thought it was great that she reminded the press that they have a duty and I kind of wished I had followed up on my Journalism major.

During my last summer before graduation, I interned at an Asian American newspaper called East West in SF Chinatown.  After the summer was over, they asked if I'd be the editor, but I declined because I wanted to go into broadcast journalism.  I ended up working in a non-broadcast function for  KJAZ and KNBR Radio, had a family and ended up working with United Way and now AT&T... but I'm still a news junky.  I watch/read CNN, some Fox (Chris Wallace and Bill O'Reilly, but not Hannity), Washington Post, New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, WSJ, AP, Reuters, etc (NOT BREITBART).

Over the last couple weeks, I've been reflecting on Obama's performance (good and bad), and how I (and probably many other citizens) got complacent over the years.  Up until this election, I was registered as an Independent like my father.  I voted for Gore, but accepted W when he won by a chad.  He and Laura seemed like decent people, and I thought he handled the day of 9/11 fairly well.  When they voted to go to war because of WMD, I trusted Colin Powell and thought the vote was sound.  I don't think I voted at all for the second term (can't honestly remember) - Kerry didn't impress me and I figured that if Bush got a second term, he should "clean up his mess."

In 2008, I wanted Hillary to win the primary because I thought she brought more experience to the position than Obama had.  If it was a straight contest between John McCain and Barack Obama, I probably would've voted for McCain because we were at war and I valued his experience.  However, he brought Sarah Palin onto the ticket and it wasn't long for me to turn that page.  I don't think I actually voted that time either because I live in California and the electoral college system basically puts the Democrat as the winner for the state anyway.

I voted for Obama's second term because I thought the Republicans (led by Mitch McConnell) were obstructing progress.  It was as if they were just going to be against anything Democrats or Obama wanted, particularly health care reform, whether it was going to help people or not.  I still feel that way.  Instead of complaining about the ACA, they should've been putting forth real solutions.  If they think they can repeal and replace quickly, that means they should've been able to work together to do it during the past 8 years.

When I saw what the Republicans were putting forth for the 2016 election, I switched my ballot from Independent to Democrat.  There were a bunch of them cancelling each other out; and I had a suspicion that Trump would win because of it.  I knew I'd take Bernie or Hillary over Trump any day - just could not stand the guy (still can't).  People have gotten complacent over the past 8 years under Obama, especially the young ones who haven't really had a President other than Obama during their adult lives.

I took Obama and his quiet leadership for granted.  In many ways, I think he may have a great post-presidential career like Jimmy Carter.  Of course Obama wasn't perfect (watch Bill O'Reilly's segment), but he was able to handle the position with class and thoughtfulness.  He had a lot to deal with - struggling economy, health care,  automakers, Bin Laden, Syria, ISIS, etc...  All while dealing with GOP obstruction, people making ridiculous birther comments, calling his wife an ape, questioning his faith, etc.  Not once did I think he'd tweet something juvenile in response, not once did I fear that he'd be part of some scandal.  I knew all the ridiculous stories were just drummed up by some right wing propaganda.

That is not the case with Trump.  Now I have to think, "What is the US President going to tweet in response?  Why isn't it hard for me to believe that the Russians are blackmailing him?"  Never in my life did I think the US President might be complicit in such activities.  Mind you, I am NOT saying that he IS guilty of it because it's still under investigation.  It's just that even the intelligence agencies think he might be culpable.  That makes even his Twitters seem like small change compared to treason, and I'm not even surprised.  We have all gotten complacent enough to where Trump's behavior is becoming normalized.

I've never been that active politically, thinking that "Hey, this is California where it's usually a Democratic nominee anyway (with the exception of Arnold and Ronald).  Why bother?"  I will now be looking for opportunities in which I can help.  Being a Christian also means looking after my brothers and sisters who may not share my faith.