I'd Take Business As Usual

When I first heard about Rahm Emmanual leaving the administration my gut instinct was revulsion. I happen to think - and I thought members of the Obama administration agreed - that this country has serious problems to be solved. The economy, Afghanistan, the broader war on terror, education, healthcare, just to name a few. I may not agree with their ideas or their tactics or their strategy all the time, but I at least thought they cared. Rahm quitting to run for Mayor of Chicago makes me realize he didn't. He saw being White House Chief of Staff the same way Lane Kiffin viewed his job at Tennessee. As a career stepping stone.

Then I hear on the radio that it is normal for the White House to shake things up after two years or so. These jobs are so taxing, no can do it for very long, etc, etc. The average Chief of Staff takes 2.5 years and so on. But then I got to thinking - who are we kidding here? Rahm was there for 20 months. That is short. And he didn't leave because of exhaustion or because it was time for fresh blood. He left because even rats know when a ship is sinking and he smelled a better opportunity elsewhere.

Then part of me feels guilty for being hurt by all of this and surprised when professional politicians behave like professional politicians. Like I went to a whorehouse and came out feeling unloved. Fine. I hate to be soft and gullible. Forgive me for taking these problems like the economy and war on terror seriously. I didn't realize they were just resume builders.

Fuck 'em. How can they possibly ask us to take them seriously, these guys. They don't even believe in their own bullshit. They believe in winning the day. They believe in building their resume. They seek power, without any purpose. Herein lies the real, spiritual problem with America today. It is the Rahm Emmanuals and Aaron Sorkin's who lionize them. These people suck.

And then you have Obama. This is a guy who promised to "change the climate in Washington" and to be a uniter. What a crock of shit. It's like the filmmaker who wants to "reinvent cinema." People who speak like this are naive at best and charlatans at worst. Why are we suckered in? Because we are naive optimists, Americans are. There are worse things to be. Fact is, I would trade what we currently have for "business as usual."

One last thing - Facebook. Why do we assign importance to it? The minute they try to assign it value, ie through ads or through paid subscriptions, it will crash and die. It is a gigantic pyramid scheme built on narcissism and impotence. The only way to sustain it is to sell - probably illegally, but if not, immorally - people's personal information without them knowing it to interested parties. How else can this thing sustain itself. $25 billion, they say it's worth. I wouldn't buy it for $1000.