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| Gary Shteyngart on Obama: 'Bipartisanship is not going to work' | Gary Shteyngart on Obama: 'Bipartisanship is not going to work' |
| (30 days later) | |
| Gary Shteyngart, 40, is a Jewish American writer who was born in St Petersburg. His third novel, Super Sad True Love Story, was published last year | Gary Shteyngart, 40, is a Jewish American writer who was born in St Petersburg. His third novel, Super Sad True Love Story, was published last year |
| On the night Obama was elected we were at a party in Williamsburg, one of the hipster neighbourhoods of New York. This apartment overlooked a highway bringing trucks into the city and all these trucks were also honking in celebration of Obama's victory. The licence plates were Iowa and Idaho and these were big tough guys, and that surprised me more than anything else that night. | On the night Obama was elected we were at a party in Williamsburg, one of the hipster neighbourhoods of New York. This apartment overlooked a highway bringing trucks into the city and all these trucks were also honking in celebration of Obama's victory. The licence plates were Iowa and Idaho and these were big tough guys, and that surprised me more than anything else that night. |
| It felt glorious because at the heart of America's dysfunction has always been the deep state of slavery and its aftermath. It never fully went away, and Obama did so much to change that for us. Even a decade ago we couldn't have imagined an African-American in the White House. It made us, after eight years of Bush, happy and hopeful again. | It felt glorious because at the heart of America's dysfunction has always been the deep state of slavery and its aftermath. It never fully went away, and Obama did so much to change that for us. Even a decade ago we couldn't have imagined an African-American in the White House. It made us, after eight years of Bush, happy and hopeful again. |
| Since he was elected, I've learned that Obama is smart, well-read, a brilliant individual, but I've learned that sometimes that is not enough. That's the sad part. America is declining, as all empires do. I grew up in the Soviet Union, and I see certain parallels with the US. The xenophobia goes up, the flags get bigger, there's all this bullshit patriotism. I was driving through Ohio recently and I saw a flag as big as a building flying over a Hyundai car dealership. A flag like that doesn't say, "I'm proud to be an American"; it says, "I'm scared of the future". | Since he was elected, I've learned that Obama is smart, well-read, a brilliant individual, but I've learned that sometimes that is not enough. That's the sad part. America is declining, as all empires do. I grew up in the Soviet Union, and I see certain parallels with the US. The xenophobia goes up, the flags get bigger, there's all this bullshit patriotism. I was driving through Ohio recently and I saw a flag as big as a building flying over a Hyundai car dealership. A flag like that doesn't say, "I'm proud to be an American"; it says, "I'm scared of the future". |
| What would the difference be between an Obama presidency and a McCain presidency, if he had won? I think that Obama has managed the situation as skilfully as possible: he has saved us from a much worse decline. He has revived the auto industry, kept America from a Greek- or Spanish-style swoon. Healthcare is very important – it's beyond understanding how a country of this might, of this wealth, could deny its citizens the very basics of healthcare. It's not a perfect solution but his reform is going to be seen as a major achievement. | What would the difference be between an Obama presidency and a McCain presidency, if he had won? I think that Obama has managed the situation as skilfully as possible: he has saved us from a much worse decline. He has revived the auto industry, kept America from a Greek- or Spanish-style swoon. Healthcare is very important – it's beyond understanding how a country of this might, of this wealth, could deny its citizens the very basics of healthcare. It's not a perfect solution but his reform is going to be seen as a major achievement. |
| One thing Obama's hopefully learned is that this idea that he came in with, bipartisanship, is not going to work. What you have in the Tea Party is basically an insurgency. You have people who want America to fail, who want an American government to disappear. It's a revolutionary group by any other name. You can't negotiate with these people: you have to outflank them every which way you can. | One thing Obama's hopefully learned is that this idea that he came in with, bipartisanship, is not going to work. What you have in the Tea Party is basically an insurgency. You have people who want America to fail, who want an American government to disappear. It's a revolutionary group by any other name. You can't negotiate with these people: you have to outflank them every which way you can. |
| The other side of the coin, and a lot of people don't want to talk about it for obvious reasons, is that it is a racist movement. These people cannot deal with the fact that there is a black person in the Oval Office. It doesn't matter what he does – he could decide tomorrow to cut the deficit, bolster the military and take away Medicare and welfare, and they would still hate him. He came in very idealistically, and I think if he wins the second term there's going to be none of that. I hope that it's a good win on his part and I hope he takes his mandate and really does something with it. | The other side of the coin, and a lot of people don't want to talk about it for obvious reasons, is that it is a racist movement. These people cannot deal with the fact that there is a black person in the Oval Office. It doesn't matter what he does – he could decide tomorrow to cut the deficit, bolster the military and take away Medicare and welfare, and they would still hate him. He came in very idealistically, and I think if he wins the second term there's going to be none of that. I hope that it's a good win on his part and I hope he takes his mandate and really does something with it. |
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