Liberated means -

(photo credit: Ernest vonRosen, http://www.amgmedia.com/)


"Free from domination of a foreign power." Being liberated is cause for celebration this Friday, which is no longer "Bush Day." It frees my thinking. Changing my Blogger category "Bush Fridays," to "Elect-Dems-admin-Fri" means that South by Southwest is now looking forward rather than backwards. I have regained my peace of mind, for the most part. Today's post is a case study of the evolution of my "Bush-thinking" following the success of Democrats in the fall of last year. My "boss" at The Reaction would label it "navel-gazing."
Was it a liberation election? In November, 2006, a majority of U.S. voters attempted to liberate themselves from the domination of the Bush administration. After 6 years of Bush's "imperial" domination, I felt tremendous relief at the outcome of the 2006 elections. In December I dismissed OCP - our current president - as irrelevent.
Could new leadership in Congress counterbalance the yoke of the old Republican administration domination? In January of this year my blog posts celebrated new leadership as it emerged, and looked at the question of politics vs. leadership. My posts were looking at background material and the new ideas coming from elsewhere than inept Republicans. The next couple of months focused on the elements of leadership capacity as I saw it emerging. I posted optimistically abut telling the truth, acting in good faith, and effecting reconciliation across walls and fences. I was very hopeful that an effective Democratic congress could lift the yoke weighing the country down, could make a difference in the face of the foreign/imperial presidency of OCP. Optimism was far outweighing pessimism in the tone of the Bush-Friday posts. Bush-thinking was better.
Liberating one's head from an obsession is not an easy task. In February I felt the need to psychoanalyze OCP. Though I was still obsessed with Bush in April, I remained in touch with reality. Mercifully by May, I was bored by Bush. That's how it is to let go of an obsession. In the therapy business we call the technique "flooding." My posts began giving credit rather than only criticizing. I was paying particular attention to assure that descriptive words were not always insulting. I was becoming more rational; and I was in danger of becoming really boring.
Being liberated means being free of domination by a foreign entity. My readers need have no fear. The Imperial Presidency is not through with me yet; there are ample opportunities for new obsessions: I have always known that "the administration" includes people besides George W. Bush. These days a good part of my continuing upset is due to our current Vice President, Dick Cheney and to the Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. These men are supposed to be doing the public's business. But they seem to be more about being in business for themselves.
Could these new obsessions take the place of the old one? Has Cheney-thinking replaced Bush-thinking? Would Gonzales-thinking be a more interesting obsession? More on this next Friday. This self-study is clearly going to be an on-going liberation challenge.
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