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| Walter Mosley on Obama: 'He was like a surgeon given a rusty scalpel' | Walter Mosley on Obama: 'He was like a surgeon given a rusty scalpel' |
| (30 days later) | |
| New York novelist Walter Mosley, 60, created the fictional detective Easy Rawlins and has published more than 30 novels in a range of genres | New York novelist Walter Mosley, 60, created the fictional detective Easy Rawlins and has published more than 30 novels in a range of genres |
| For me, the Obama presidency encompassed the excruciating final moments of the pain of birth when America was finally pushed out of its womb of isolationism into the bright, loud and profoundly challenging dawn of the third millennium. Most American presidents inherit a nation but Mr Obama received an entire world of growing pains and contradictions. He was faced with a 20th-century economic system that had foundered and failed but had not given up the helm. China had transformed itself from a dictatorship of the proletariat into a dictatorship over the proles. Europe's fine blend of socialistic capitalism had begun to unravel because of a kind of dementia in its economic infrastructure. And the so-called third world was reeling under the constant barrage brought about by the inescapable competition between the aforementioned gang of superpowers. | For me, the Obama presidency encompassed the excruciating final moments of the pain of birth when America was finally pushed out of its womb of isolationism into the bright, loud and profoundly challenging dawn of the third millennium. Most American presidents inherit a nation but Mr Obama received an entire world of growing pains and contradictions. He was faced with a 20th-century economic system that had foundered and failed but had not given up the helm. China had transformed itself from a dictatorship of the proletariat into a dictatorship over the proles. Europe's fine blend of socialistic capitalism had begun to unravel because of a kind of dementia in its economic infrastructure. And the so-called third world was reeling under the constant barrage brought about by the inescapable competition between the aforementioned gang of superpowers. |
| The millennia-old conflict between the major religions was growing and the gulf between rich and poor was spreading like some kind of economic desertification. People could sit on their porches and watch as the wealth of their lifetimes and of the nation evaporated. | The millennia-old conflict between the major religions was growing and the gulf between rich and poor was spreading like some kind of economic desertification. People could sit on their porches and watch as the wealth of their lifetimes and of the nation evaporated. |
| The sky was falling while the oceans rose and the atmosphere heated up. Under this miasma of global warming, people were propagating at a hitherto unheralded rate. | The sky was falling while the oceans rose and the atmosphere heated up. Under this miasma of global warming, people were propagating at a hitherto unheralded rate. |
| To misquote Dickens: It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times. | To misquote Dickens: It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times. |
| This newborn America was both blind and unequipped to deal with the challenges that faced it. We still believed that democracy was a ballot dropped in a box and forgotten until the next election. Mr Obama was thrown into office and the people who worked so hard to get him there went back to their daily lives thinking that they'd done their job and now it was time for him to do his. | This newborn America was both blind and unequipped to deal with the challenges that faced it. We still believed that democracy was a ballot dropped in a box and forgotten until the next election. Mr Obama was thrown into office and the people who worked so hard to get him there went back to their daily lives thinking that they'd done their job and now it was time for him to do his. |
| Obama was a surgeon in a crowded operating theatre who asked for a bone saw and was given a rusty scalpel. To his credit he applied himself to the impossible job with unflagging energy and inexplicable poise. His wife, her sleeves always rolled up, stood at his side, trying with him to resuscitate the patient that is our nation. | Obama was a surgeon in a crowded operating theatre who asked for a bone saw and was given a rusty scalpel. To his credit he applied himself to the impossible job with unflagging energy and inexplicable poise. His wife, her sleeves always rolled up, stood at his side, trying with him to resuscitate the patient that is our nation. |
| Our wounds are critical but the real problem is that there are extenuating complications in our immune systems. The economic, environmental, ecclesiastical and educational systems are all failing. Even if we could perform the double-quadruple bypass there are no backup systems in our culture, bank accounts or even on the air to sustain us. The only thing that we have going for us is will and leadership. For four years, President Obama has represented both. | Our wounds are critical but the real problem is that there are extenuating complications in our immune systems. The economic, environmental, ecclesiastical and educational systems are all failing. Even if we could perform the double-quadruple bypass there are no backup systems in our culture, bank accounts or even on the air to sustain us. The only thing that we have going for us is will and leadership. For four years, President Obama has represented both. |
| My politics are not on the same page as the official stance of the White House but that hardly matters. The conflicts that riddle our world seem to have called this extraordinary American president into existence; and for that I am grateful. | My politics are not on the same page as the official stance of the White House but that hardly matters. The conflicts that riddle our world seem to have called this extraordinary American president into existence; and for that I am grateful. |
| But having said that, I'm afraid I believe that the only way a black man could have made it into office was when the problems facing us had already transcended the conflict between races and arrived at the place where the only question was the survival of the species. | But having said that, I'm afraid I believe that the only way a black man could have made it into office was when the problems facing us had already transcended the conflict between races and arrived at the place where the only question was the survival of the species. |
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