Obama in 2009

NY Post’s, Matt Welch, has a very emotional article out yesterday. I say emotional for two reasons: one- if you supported Obama through the election, shed tears of joy at the inauguration, and defended every action (or inaction for that matter) for his first year, I believe those people are now shedding tears of absolute disappointment and dismay as the Obama bubble has finally burst. Two- if you have, all along, disdained our so-called leader, you are ecstatic that the masses are finally waking from their Hopenchange stupor.

Undead ’60s warhorse Tom Hayden got the ball rolling in early December with his dramatic announcement in The Nation that, with the president’s decision to increase troop levels, “It’s time to strip the Obama sticker off my car.”

Time to strip that sticker indeed and replace it with this one…you know act like you were the voice of reason all along.

Liberal historian Garry Wills joined the anguished chorus. “My wife and I had maxed out in donations for him. Our children had been ardent for his cause,” Wills wrote. “And now he betrays us.”

And what about health care?

Less hysterical but no less disappointed was former Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who wrote in the Washington Post Thursday that “Any measure that expands private insurers’ monopoly over health care and transfers millions of taxpayer dollars to private corporations is not real health-care reform.”

Robert Samuelson said, “Barack Obama’s quest for historic health care legislation has turned into a parody of leadership. We usually associate presidential leadership with the pursuit of goals that, though initially unpopular, serve America’s long-term interests. Obama has reversed this.”

Good thing we elected a man who was going to change business as usual. Michelle Malkin has been kind enough to offer the Demcare Bribe List: Part 1 and Part 2

It’s one thing if a Fox News poll has Obama’s approval under 50%. It’s another when EVERY SINGLE POLL IN THIS COUNTRY has Obama under 50%. If for no other reason, isn’t it enough that Obama has spent more money in his first year than ANY PRESIDENT IN OUR ENTIRE HISTORY!? And today he has the audacity to offer the $127 billion in cut in the deficit in the first TEN years of this health care “reform” as a good thing! That’s barely a speck of what he spent on the $787 billion Stimulus this year!

Anyway, I’m ecstatic. The Obama bubble has burst. Merry Christmas to me.

Update:

The NY Times on Sunday said, “Nasty charges of bribery. Senators cut off midspeech. Accusations of politics put over patriotism. Talk of double-crosses. A nonagenarian forced to the floor after midnight for multiple procedural votes. In the heart of the holiday season, Senate Republicans and Democrats are at one another’s throats as the health care overhaul reaches its climactic votes. A year that began with hopes of new post-partisanship has indeed produced change: Things have gotten worse.”

Rock for South Sudan

In November 2007, I was able to go to southern Sudan. A local pastor, Charles, painted a very vivid picture of what it was like during the civil war prior to the 2005 peace treaty. Looking out at the field before us, he replayed just one instance of troops invading the village- lines of soldiers, shoulder to shoulder, coming in on each side. The people are defenseless in this village. Their tukuls provide little protection. While exploring one afternoon, I discovered some sort of explosive roped off in the grass that failed to explode. The people would cover their roofs with brush and branches to conceal them from the planes.

Charles

tukul

In March 2008, John Mark McMillan, Aaron Strumpel, and Travis Aicklen set out to make a difference in southern Sudan. They rocked for water. Scheduling eight shows in California, these bands used their giftings and musical abilities to promote a need, or better yet, a response. Every night, Travis would talk about what he experienced in southern Sudan (we went together). He would tell the crowd, “You spend your money on worthless things. People who were going to die are going to live because you gave.” And they did. They gave generously. Two weeks and eight shows later, $26,000 was raised. Since that time, one well has been dug with two more on the way (last I heard).

Rock for Water Crew

our well

Travis and I in Sudan

The NY Times just published this story: Violence Grips South Sudan as Vote Nears (PLEASE READ)

In the past, these rivalries occasionally became violent, with maybe a few warriors killed on each side. But the recent attacks seem more like infantry maneuvers. In one massacre this March, 17 villages were besieged and more than 700 people killed, according to United Nations officials….Diing Akol Diing, a county commissioner near Duk Padiet, keeps pictures of victims on his computer: Children with bullet holes in their chest. Old women curled up in pools of blood. Emaciated militia fighters in smart new camouflage.

“This is madness,” he says.

He clicks on a photograph of a dozen people wrapped in blankets, buried in a ditch.

“Mass graves?” he says. “We’ve never had mass graves.”

******

There is just a year until the peace treaty expires. It sounds like the north is preparing. It sounds like the south is scared, hoping to hold out, hoping for independence. It sounds like we need to rock again- not for water, but for the people- for their hopes, for their freedom…for their very lives. The world learned of Darfur too late. Let’s not let this happen with the south. Let’s not wait until another 2 million men, women, and children are dead. Let us help to give them voice. Let us proclaim their story. Let’s Rock for South Sudan.

I’m not sure what to do. I just want to help and I want you to help, too. Are you in?

If so, watch this video from Journeyman Pictures. If not, watch this video from Journeyman Pictures. (August 2006)

This video is from June 1993 and will give you some context.