I Too Want To Cry

This past week has been tough. I blame Michelle Obama for my having succumbed not to one, but two chocolate croissants within 15 hours (one in the evening and one the next morning.) This after not having touched croissants ever since Trader Joe's had stopped offering them, maybe a year ago. 2 for $2, made locally, seemed like a deal and we all know that cheap or free calories do not count. But my binge did not stop with those croissants. Despite having abstained from bringing home bread and dairy products for the last 3 months, my need for consolation made me devour not one, but two, then three tubs of Tapioca pudding, topped with my own spicy apple sauce and garnished with a medley of fresh fruit that featured figs and strawberries. This kind of fare can make me dismiss any notions of  fresh vegetables, not to mention meat and abandon any notion of a reasonably balanced, healthy diet. 

So back to our First Lady, surely an image of grace, poise and intelligence. A First Lady we could be proud of and with a 65% approval rating many are kindly disposed of. Certainly my facebook contacts  (no friends there) were gushing and sharing in their joy and pride, including the head of our local Upayah Buddhist Monastery.

What boggled my mind and created a storm in my heart and mind is especially the following of Michelle Obama's speech given at the Democratic Convention:

... "when it comes to his character and his convictions and his heart, Barack Obama is still the same man ... being president does not change who you are. No, it reveals the who you are."

Long  befuddled silence.

Really?

Guantanamo is still open, men are still imprisoned without due process despite Obama's promise to close the facility four years ago.  Admittedly the practice of water boarding and torture has supposedly ended, but Obama, a constitutional lawyer, is the same today as he was four years ago, really?

Despite winning the 2009 Nobel Peace price our president made Afghanistan his cause and shattered our hopes for real change. How can we justify President Obama's kill list?

Drone Attacks (according to US government)

Total US strikes since 2004: 337
Total Obama strikes: 285
Total reported killed: 2,524-3,247
Civilians reported killed: 482-852
Children reported killed: 175
Total reported injured: 1,204-1,330

President Obama, a constitutional lawyer, endorsed the hunting down and the killing and then unceremonious disposal of Osama Bin Laden, rather then demand proper due process, even deserving of the worst of criminals. In this way our President, the man I voted for in dire hopes for real change, continued to carry out the Bush policies, in deed not just in rhetoric.

When President Obama, the former tireless community worker, appointed Geitner he chose to support a corporate bail-out, really a give-away to the banks on cost of the people.

Michelle's husband just signed on Shell for the further exploitation of our earth - arctic drilling for oil. This the same man we rooted and hoped for four years ago - really? This is not the change we had seen coming, we had longed for, hoped for, wished for.

Our First Lady must cherish her own organic garden, but she endorses the appointment of a former Monsanto vice-president to the FDA. Due to her now public support of her husband and asking for four more years our pretty First Lady is complicit.

 Yes, we have a very photogenic, very charismatic First Lady with great oratory skills, but let us not lose sight of some very important facts while swooning over our attractive First Lady who must be smart enough to know truth from fiction. Vote for the Obamas, but not with rose colored glasses and not with eyes clouded by the mist of sentimentality and sweet nonsense. Vote for the Obamas because the alternative is just too grim to contemplate. Vote for the Obamas and work towards alternatives for the near future, for third, fourth and fifth party nominations. For this year's election we have no better choice then the Obama's and not voting should not be an option. Voting is our civic responsibility. Let's not gloss over the differences of red and blue, they exist. Let's not get stuck in wishful thinking, in wanting a world other then the one we live in. Michelle Obama's audience shed tears during her speech and I too wanted to cry - from my sense of betrayal by the Obamas. Such a charismatic, likable family, seemingly so genuine, easy on the eyes, bright and articulate. I will vote, likely with tears of bitter disappointment, but I will vote for the Obamas although I will take no pride,  while I really would wish that I could.