Joe Bageant

North Toward Home

From here in Central America, you can't see America's "shining city on the hill," but you can smell the dead in Gaza.

By Joe Bageant

HOPKINS VILLAGE, BELIZE -- I watched Obama's inaugural speech over a plate of rice, beans and tortillas eaten with my fingers, in a thatch roofed joint in Belize. Which is organic and ethnic as hell, but I'd be the first to admit that a bucket of hot wings and a cold sixer would have been far preferable to this slob. And right along with the Garifunas, Mestizos and Creoles there watching Obama, I had my choked up moments. After all, I'm still an American -- albeit a reluctant one, and (despite the opinions of a couple of ex-wives) a human being.

But unlike most of the other villagers present, I also understood that I was watching a $40 million media production in which the highly paid meat puppets at the microphones spoke in a continuous tape loop … lip synching the lyrics of the national sing along, pointing out for the thousandth time that our new president is black, and going into detail about such things as Obama and Biden stepping out of their limos simultaneously. Wow! For the most part it was the Rose Bowl Parade, but with a speech and a dance party replacing the football game.

New Year's Day in an old, old world

Joe,

I can feel your pain, Joe. I wish I could be just as starry eyed as I can get with a new sheriff in town, finally. I do so like the man and his family, and it's been so very long since anyone in that oval hole in the wall was anyone I'd have a beer with.

Has mere observation for shenanigans changed the observed, all quantum like? Or am I merely a better observer with a larger bed of knowledge?

A big part of me wants to to let go and let gawd, as they say, get an Obama tattoo for my geriatric years and learn to nod and smile. But then I had to be beaten out of love with Bill Clinton, so maybe I should be smarter. To what end I'm not entirely sure. I've been fighting so hard for so long, and I'm tired. What have I accomplished other than raising children who distrust authority, my own included? Shee-ut.