After the Ball is Over

A popular 1890’s song:
“After the ball is over, after the break of morn.
After the dancers’ leaving, after the stars are gone,
Many a heart is aching, if you could read them all-
Many the hopes have vanished after the ball."

That’s how I remember the 1945 Inauguration. It was considerably warmer in ‘45 than it was yesterday in Washington. Still, after the celebrating was over people didn’t seem to know what to do. We went from one hotel ballroom to another (or was it a bar) just to try to keep the spirit of the day going. But by the late wee hours of the morning fatigue took over and we knew it was time to give it up and get on with whatever each of us had to do.

Watching the Obama celebration yesterday I knew that a lot of those folks in DC wanted that party to go on forever. Unfortunately, wether it was Caesar coming home to Rome, or Napoleon returning to Paris where they built those beautiful Victory Arches, or Times Square at the end of WW 2, after a few days of partying life somehow has to return to our everyday existence. So it is today. Everybody back to our own little daily lives of our existence.

I see the euphoria of the Inauguration wing-ding as both a blessing and a curse. The blessing part gives Obama a head of steam going into his first 100 days. Watching Obama deliver his Inaugural Address, I said to Kate that he reminded me of a character out of Greek mythology. This handsome, brilliant orator, who in some ways seemed far above us, has hopefully come to save us. So much for the blessing.

I am frankly far more concerned about the curse of expectations that goes with Godliness. It is a common phenomena for people in need to believe that someone has come to save them. The roots of that idea are buried in scripture. Someone is coming to save us. Yes, I know that Obama keeps telling us that correcting all our overindulging is going to take time. But I also know that my fellow citizens have been infected with the notion that “we can have it all.” What has been lost during the years of the Miliken/Madoff style of the big steal has been the idea of delaying gratification until the day you can afford it. Now I wonder how long will the country put up with the economic crisis before they turn on our new savior and start throwing stones.

Here is another observation of the difference between the crisis of the thirties and FDR’s first 100 days and now. Back then the major media was the press. Radio was relatively new and FDR made full use of it with his fireside chats. I remember people coming to my Uncle Zeigfried’s house because he had a great old Atwater Kent radio that could be heard in the whole living room. In contrast, I believe that Obama is becoming overexposed by the media, and that contributes to the rising expectations. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, there was no safety net back in the thirties so FDR was able to propose all that legislation that become known as The New Deal.

Clearly I think that FDR had the advantage over Obama. He could come up with new legislation and he had much better control over the new media, the radio. Now as for the press, that’s another story. FDR had to deal with a basically hostile newspaper world, and that’s where the radio was able to save him. He also had a powerful left represented by a dynamic labor movement and an array of left wing organizations that could carry support of his programs into the streets. Unfortunately, unless the Obama folks can figure out how to turn that new internet base into an active political organization, he is headed for trouble. Or should I say big trouble. But we shall see.

Thanks Kate N.H.W.Y.