October 16, 2011 (America in a Thousand Days)

Will the President stumble through the challenges facing this nation the same way he stumbled while taking the oath of office?

If I may I would like put the inaugural euphoria for President Obama on pause for a moment.  I don't wish to interrupt the celebration, postpone the jubilation or even diminish the historical significance of the occasion.  But there are some of us who remain skeptical about the 44th President.  What is hope and change going to look like?  Will we be better off in four years time?  Will the President stumble through the challenges facing this nation the same way he stumbled while taking the oath of office?  The following is a poem about what America might look like in a thousand days.

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October 16, 2011

He wants you to know there's nothing to fear
Things are going to be done in a new way
The new boss will bring about hope and change
It's coming soon; it just won't be coming today

High hopes are cautioned that change
Won't arrive on our shores overnight
A thousand nights have now passed
Will it ever be in harbor's sight?

In the meantime our allies and friends
Have raised their hands without lifting a finger
All those weekly online fireside chats
Our state of economic stagnation lingers

You can see houses full of broken windows
Uncollected garbage lines the streets
Amongst the refuse is an old pamphlet
Lying useless like subsidized wheat

The back of his open hand
Slowly closes into a fist
If you want his compassion
Then sign up for the waiting list

With his patriotism a mile wide but an inch deep
The Commander-in-Chief salutes at arm's length
It's plain that history has taught him nothing
About achieving peace through strength

Where will our nation be
Thirty days after thirty-nine
A land where you cannot tell
What's yours and what's mine

This was supposed to be our moment
It has not come and we don't know when
Once more he will be full of promises
Perhaps it will be time for change again.

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