The end of the world as we know it

That seems to be the attitude of a lotta folks.

Some believe that tomorrow's inauguration will bring about the death of the constitution, the rise of socialism, the end of all our personal freedoms, all manner of horrific events and zombies running about, eating our brains.

Others believe that it will bring puppies and rainbows and free healthcare and manna from heaven and...well...change.

No matter what we wind up with, somebody's gonna be real unhappy. Ya can't please all the people all the time, ya know? Personally, I think it'll wind up being somewhere in the middle. It won't be as bad as some people believe...but it won't be as good as a lotta people hope, either. Change isn't necessarily always a good thing.

I guess my attitude would be dubiously hopeful. But thinkin back on it, that's my usual attitude as far as politics is concerned. I'm always dubiously hopeful. And I'm usually disappointed.

Some people believe that Bush caused the current economic crisis. Hey, it took a loooong time for the shit to hit the fan...longer than eight years. And it's gonna take a long time to dig our way out of this. I think anyone who'd want to be president right now is just plain nuts. I wouldn't wish it on anybody.

I don't think that anyone can dig us out of this in any kind of timely manner. In fact, I don't think we should...I don't think we can expect anyone to dig us out of this. I think we have to do it ourselves.

The big problem...the really sad fact is...that some people...many people...don't know how to do it themselves. And right now, even if they did, they can't.

And so it goes.