‘We have found the enemy. It is us!'

The CNN news headlines early this morning (Pacific time) highlighted the collapse of the U.S. stock market (Dow Jones was down by about 250 points then). I checked the CNN news again around 11 AM to see the status. Guess what the top news was at that time? It was the seating of the O.J. Simpson trial in Nevada, with color pictures and details. I had to search through the sub-headlines to find out what was going on in the Wall Street. The stock index had plummeted by another 200 points by then. But it was not the top story. A financial collapse of the size of the ‘Great Depression’ is in the making in USA; but CNN knows that the people are more interested in the juicy details of O.J.’s plight. Americans, in general, do not like to tax their brains with ‘complex’ matters like the implications of banks collapsing, and the policies and qualifications of their next President! Most of these hardworking people have no time for it. They rather watch sports, and follow the meltdown of Britney Spears on TV. People vote based on their gut feeling, without bothering to analyze both sides of the issues which matter to them. In 2000, instead of a boring and pedantic Al Gore, they went with inexperienced George Bush as he was the guy they would like to have beer with. In 2004, John Kerry was too sophisticated for people to vote for. This country has paid a heavy price for those mistakes. Now, thanks to the baseless personal attacks against him, Barrack Obama has been knocked down from his pedestal of an inspiring new kind of leader. It looks like people rather go with the more familiar ‘white’ John McCain, and Sarah Palin, the smart and perky woman whom they can identify with. It does not matter to them that they are voting to keep in the office the party which is responsible for the last disastrous seven years, and that a clearly unqualified person will be one heartbeat away from the oldest President ever to take the office. I am afraid that we are going to get the fate we deserve!