Time magazine=Millennials Are Lazy, Entitled Narcissists Who Still Live With Their Parents

[BlueStreak]

200. Turtle on the fencepost

Well, that turns out to be a very deep question.

A cynic might say that Obama promised "change we can believe in" and we all filled in the blanks and imagined our utopia world -- which wasn't anything like what Obama had in mind.

That is the cynical answer, and overly simplistic, I think. Here's my answer, and I freely admit many people will think this is complete crap. But here it is. America is mostly decent people, wanting to do right by their neighbors. Most (white) Americans feel, at some subconscious level at least, a deep sadness for what this country did with the African slaves. While we may not feel a personal responsibility for that, there is a deep emotion that a whole race was wronged in the worst possible way. And even though slave ownership is no longer legal, most people understand that there is a lingering legacy from that ugly period. The vestiges still show themselves in lower education levels, drug abuse, lower incomes, poverty, higher incarceration rates, and employment ceilings -- all of which I would submit are actually symptoms of the same problem.

Basically America has been guilty and feeling it for a long time. Obama came along in a set of circumstances that allowed white America to finally make a meaningful gesture of remorse. And that is primarily how Obama got elected.

Of course, it helps that Obama is a fundamentally good and smart man, and his opponents are about as evil as any politicians I have seen in my lifetime. In the past, we had a few -- George Wallace, Joseph McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Strom Thurmond, and others scattered throughout the years. But today, it seems like at least 80% of national Republicans are truly reprehensible people, as bad as anybody on that short list of names I rattled off.

So I am arguing that America decided there was one issue that needed attention, even above the economy, the environment, education, etc. And that was the unresolved story of our national racism. I am OK with that. Taking 8 years off to get some of that behind us is painful, but we are better for it. But from here, we really have to find somebody who will stand up and fight the barbarians. Realistically a black man really can't lead such a fight, and it is clear Obama will not. We haven't put that race thing completely behind us.