I started wearing this hat, which I got from the Not A Number shop in Wallingford, a couple of years ago. I’m of the age, style and hairline where a baseball cap is an integral part of my wardrobe, and I’ve got lots of them. But this one soon became special.
It was kind of amusing back then. People would do a double take and you could see the gears spinning while they tried to figure out what the date meant. About a third knew right off. Some guessed after a few seconds, some squinted to read the inscription. But most simply asked right off what it referred to.
Back then, of course, the concept was simply to get rid of Bush, the worst president ever and a guy I like to call history’s biggest loser of all time (redundancy deliberate for emphasis). If he didn’t completely exterminate all life on earth by then, January 20, 2009 represented blessed merciful relief. The goal was the absence of an individual. And his associates. And hopefully all they represented.
Nothing could be worse than Bush, so I didn’t give much thought to 01.21.09. Anything, literally and absolutely, would be better.
Then came Obama. Sometime last winter, after Super Tuesday fizzled for Hillary and it became apparent Edwards was not going to make the cut (thank God for that one!), the easygoing guy who at first seemed too young, shallow and inexperienced began to ignite the slightest spark, a brief flicker really, of inspiration. Things I’d not seen in him before began to stand out: His ability to turn a joke with Hillary (“I’m looking forward to having you advise me”), to smile at the least expected moment, to disarm a potential Swiftboat with an I-can-relate-to-that quip (“Of course I inhaled; that was the point”), to not only attempt (with cameras running and the world watching) but drop that incredible 3-pointer. Most of all, to be authentic, someone you felt like you could strike up a conversation with in a grocery line or go jogging with. Someone who not only was who he appeared to be, but who became smarter the longer you listened to him. Someone who finally made sense.
About that time, late winter or early spring, the hat took on a whole different meaning. January 20 became a day for more than relief. It was a day to actually look forward to. A day of redemption. To anticipate. To hope for. Deleting a negative was replaced by positing an affirmative. By summer it was the only hat I would wear, dingy and threadbare as it was becoming.
Once Nov. 4 happened, there were no more quizzical looks or questions about what the date referred to. Then, wherever I went, it was, “Hey, like the hat.” It started countless conversations, all with the same theme: Can’t wait. None too soon. It’s a new day coming.
After today I’m retiring the hat. Its job is done. For me it will always signify the power of belief, the hackneyed but resilient American credo that somehow if you just keep the faith and hang in there, bad will eventually turn to good. It may be only a hat, but it helped pull me through the darkest, most depraved desolation my country has experienced in my lifetime. One could hardly ask more from a piece of apparel.
You’re electing a President not a fucking man-date, Paul. Perhaps you need to take out an ad in the stranger to fulfill your needs. Hopefully getting rid of the hat will further your recovery from Bush Derangement Syndrome that you clearly suffer from.
Dear Rick
Bush derangement syndrome? Check out the international hatred for this evil piece of shit.
It’ll take an entire generation OR MORE to undo the evil this bastard and the rest of the Bush crime family did.
Actually, it’s best for the country for you to keep up your fucked up assessment. This helps guarantee the Republicans’ upcoming 2nd-tier status. Right now they could be called “The Southern Party,” or maybe “The Confederacy,” as your base isn’t shit.
On this historic day where America will seat its first black president, you are talking about your “I hate Bush hat?”
I feel sorry for you because you are missing the true significance of this day.
I didn’t dislike bush at first. When he was elected, he pretended to be a moderate republican, so I assumed he would be good for the country, or at least, not too bad. I gave him a chance, lots of them. Remember this? I liked him then.
He had to earn my dislike.
I cannot pinpoint the date where my grudging support of him soured, but it did, and I’m glad he’s finally, finally gone.
There are two kinds of people I see on TV in the inauguration crowd. Most are showing great joy at the prospect of seeing our nation’s first black president take office. But then there are some who look hate-filled and angry who are waving “Arrest Bush” signs.
Paul’s post reminds me of the latter.
@ 5 ~ Obviously Paul and poster Jim’s hate @ 2 will only ebb with time. Irrational hatred of Cheney and Bush are signs of a very unhappy person with alot of inner angst brewing. Maybe seek a hobby or outside interest that is a little more positive and productive than simply spewing hate 24/7/365, which is all that HA provides.
Would anyone here be surprised if the man who fled a city that’s 50% black for one that’s only 10% black, and sent his child out of a school district that’s 50% black to one that’s only 1% black didn’t write post about Obama today?
I hope we spend millions and millions of tax dollars today celebrating the removal of STUPID and his followers from the White House. I hope the taxpayers pay for everything. I want the right wing assholes to understand they have nothing to say from now on. They have one job – bend over when we say so. That’s it.
Today is the first day of an 8 year nightmare for the traitors on the right. They can only hope America fails now. And that’s why they are traitors. They hate blacks and Democrats so much they are willing to see their own country fail.
So fuck them. They’re laughing stocks. The whole world is laughing at them. They’re irrelevant. They’re idiots, fools, cowards and punks who have been bent over and ass fucked by America and TODAY is a day they’ll be reminded of that everywhere they look!
GOODBYE STUPID! WELCOME to the period of shame of the right.
Today is kind of like the finalization of a divorce. It’s finally over.
What are 3 things that bush did right? We may not agree that they are good things, but what did you LIKE about bush?
Great post. I remember that evening about 8 years ago, when Gore conceded, dreading the thought that we were looking potentially at 8 years of an unduly semi-elected Bush administration.
Today’s date seemed like an inconceivably remote distance into the future then (and, believe me, it was).
Great to have survived to see this day!
I’m putting my spreadsheet comparing the Presidents and the DJIA to rest for a while. Actually, I quit tracking it back about two months ago, as it was bouncing around in the mid-8,000’s. At that point only a few irrational wingnuts would try to argue that Bush’s handling of the economy wasn’t a complete disaster.
The final numbers on the Bush Administration:
Starting DJIA 1/20/2001: 10,587.59
Starting DJIA 1/20/2009: 8,281.22
Performance Percentage: -21.78%
Of course, there are many other indicators of economic performance – NASDAQ, home ownership, forclosure rates, employment/unemployment, new home starts, jobs created, etc. But of course, all those are pretty miserable too, especially when compared with any of the modern Presidents.
I have to wonder if part of Bush’s problem was that he felt he had to compete with the economic performance under the Clinton administration. Like Enron, attempts to “push” the system beyond it’s safe limits resulted in blowing the engine.
But since even last summer some of the wingnuts here were arguing that the current economic collapse was all Clinton’s fault, at this point how much time do we give Obama to fix this mess? If we followed Wingnut logic, we could still be blaming Bush for the economy in the summer of 2016. I doubt anybody’s going to give Obama that much time. But the Republicans have left us with such a mess, having undermined the foundations of our economic system, I think it might take a year to stop the bleeding, and another two years to have the economy on an upwards slope again.
@ 5, 6: There are a lot of people, like me, who seldom get angry in our personal lives. But the damage done by the Bush administration over the past eight years has left me justifiably angry. My children, both in their 20’s now, will be paying for their mistakes for decades, as will my grandchildren. If that doesn’t make you mad, if you still insist on defending what was obviously the worst administration in the 20th and 21st century’s combined, then there’s something wrong with you.
@12
I want everyone to take notice of something. rhp6033 just said if your main emotion today isn’t one of hate and anger, then there is something wrong with you.
I disagree. Today, for most people, is a day of great joy and hope.
I feel sorry for people like rhp and webentoverthegop. They are obviously very unhappy, intolerant, and hate-filled people.
Less than one hour of power for the traitors, idiots and fools on the right. America has spoken. GOP is REJECTED! Democrats WON!
We now control the agenda. There’s not one motherucking thing you impotent right wing fools can do about it.
You’ve been beaten and disgraced. You got your ass kicked. Nobody cares what you think. America is great again and you right wingers must hate that!
@3: Troll
The reason this historic day is significant is that we will have a REAL president for the first time in 8 years. Someone with a brain, someone who can speak in whole sentences, someone who doesn’t take every cue from Dick (torture) Cheney and someone who was actually elected with a mandate.
@13: While today is a joyous occasion, it is also a reminder of what can go wrong when the wrong person is elected. All the illegal activity, the lies, the corruption and the torture that were hidden from view need to be brought out in the light of day. Bush obstructed justice and perverted the justice department – we need to ensure that no future president can do that. The constitution is more important than the current resident of Penn. Ave.
Troll @ 12 said: “…rhp6033 just said if your main emotion today isn’t one of hate and anger…”
Nope. Misquoted me again. You would think that with a post that’s only one paragraph long, and right in front of you when you type, you could get it right.
I am still angry at the damage done by the Bush administration, partly out of incompetence, partly out of greed, and partly out of ignorance.
But my MAIN emotions are pretty well described by Horsey in today’s cartoon:
Horsey 20Jan2009
I’m reminded of when Nixon resigned. Doonesbury’s cartoon showed three or four panels, starting with a brick wall, and workers chiping apart the wall, to reveal the White House amidst a morning sunburst. (Wish I had a copy of that one handy).
@7: You are an real asshole troll – if you can’t call out Golfdy by name with your pathetic little diatribes – at least have the decency to falsely call him a racist – when he obviously is NOT.
where do you live troll?
Goldy lives in South Seattle – I bet it is more integrated that YOUR area.
Where do you send YOUR kids to school? Or aare trolls like you incapable of having kids.
People in glass houses should not throw stones. I find it reprehnsible that you are calling out Goldy (who supported Obama) as a racist with NO evidence. Whereas you supported – WHO KNOWS? the republican racist party?
Well, you know what some people say about gentrification?
@18
Why do you think it is I haven’t been banned from this blog if I am so reprehensible?
It’s happening!
Troll @ 20: Name anybody who’s been banned from this blog. Extra credit if you can count it on two hands. Good luck.
But hey, thanks for letting us know that was your goal. It explains some of your comments.
I am a bit concerned about unrealistic expectations concerning Obama. Yesterday morning, within two minutes time, I heard somebody on the TV asking whether he was going to be a Lincoln, F.D.R., Kennedy, or a combination of all three!
Compare that with the outgoing administration, where when Bush took office people said “Don’t worry, Cheney’s got experience, he can keep him from making any big mistakes”. By the end of his Presidency, we were just hoping he would keep his mouth shut and not do anything.
News reports are repeating the 2+ million estimate of people on the mall for the inaugeration ceremonies. They are also reporting that so many people are trying to send photos and videos of the event via their cell phones, that the cell phone system in D.C. has crashed. Officials are recommending that everyone confine themselves to text messages, as voice calls simply aren’t getting through.
We had one of those “what did we do before cell phones moments” last week, when my daughter was to meet some friends. They were going to call her later and tell her where they were, so she could meet them. But she dropped her cell phone and broke it. When we explained that we used to have to make plans to meet people at a specific place and time BEFORE we departed for the event, she just looked kind of puzzled – it hadn’t occured to her that she might not be able to communicate with them instantly by cell phone.
Hat looks like about a man’s size 2. Should fit your pointy li’l head just perfect!