The One That Is Advocating Caution. . .

There's a joke doing the rounds about George W asking Obama to come with him on a rowing boat in the middle of the Potomac so they can discuss the really secret stuff without being overheard. After about 5 mins, Obama realises he's quite cold on the river and wishes he'd brought his overcoat which he left in the car on the riverbank. 'Hang on a minute George, I'm just going to get my coat.' With that, he steps over the side of the rowing boat and walks across the surface of the water to the riverbank to retrieve it. The waiting press pack snap away in disbelief and the rolling news channels go into meltdown. Sat on his sofa at home, John McCain turns to his wife and says 'Why didn't anyone tell me the son-of-a-bitch couldn't swim?'

Right, can we all just calm down a bit?

Yes, Obama has been elected with a healthy majority, but by no means the huge victory Clinton had in '96 or the absolutely enormous landslide Nixon had over McGovern in '72.

Yes, Obama is the first black President. But it was always going to happen sooner or later. The Democrats were likely to win if Hilary secured the nomination as well, and the cynic in me could point out that they chose to put forward the man instead of the woman.

Yes, Obama is novel in the fact that for the first time in eight years, the media handlers aren't going to be holding their breath waiting for the next fuck up from the man at the podium.

And, yes, after two Bush terms the hopes for an improved, more considered USA are high, but let's face it, not much could have been worse than Bush.

Please can we drop the cult worship that is surrounding him? People say 'his approval ratings are very high.' I should hope so, he's just comfortably won the Presidential election and hasn't had a day in the office to piss anyone off yet.

When leaders attain an almost divine aura it only ends in trouble, either the leader believes the hype, or even worse, the population believes the hype. Whilst I would never compare his politics to these people*, it does smack a bit of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and that nutter who declared himself Emperor of the Central African Republic.

Let's just calm down and evaluate him on his performance in office, rather than the colour of his skin, his presentational skills and the fact that Bono really likes him. I'm not saying he's going to be a disaster, but he hasn't actually done anything yet.

In fact the fact that Bono really likes him should be ringing bloody huge alarm bells.

*Does anyone actually know what his politics are, beyond 'change'?

+++UPDATE+++

Many thanks to 'Ted' for his comments and the subsequent research I've done. This article for example suggests that Obama isn't a US Citizen and is in cahoots with members of the Supreme Court. Must admit I don't have nearly enough depth of knowledge, and as an outsider it smacks of conspiracy theory and stretches credibility to the limit, but I'm not about to dismiss it out of hand and it certainly is an entertaining way to pass a few minutes. . .