A baffled American living overseas seeks insight from dK readers.
By way of background, I'm an American expat, living in China since 2004. Fury, anger, outrage are all emotions I'm experiencing at the boldness and lack of shame shown by the outgoing Bush Administration at how their (mis)management of our country has turned out. But where is the outrage on the street about these issues? Good for people protesting about Oscar Grant and the Israel/Gaza war - those are important matters, but where is a protest about Bush and the condition his administration has left us in? Today I read that Bush is planning a 15 minute farewell address on primetime television on Thursday. Can't we make a publicly visible statement somehow about how we feel about him and his administration?
During the 2004 presidential election, I was living in China and bemoaned from afar what seemed a lackluster almost apologetic campaign by Kerry. On November 5, I sat in a local bar watching CNN in dismay bordering on despair as election returns came in. A number of Europeans living here in Shanghai expressed the sense that they understood how Bush got in the first time (Americans didn't realize what he was really about/he cheated). The Chinese just smiled a bit patronizingly, astonished that we cared so much about an election. This past November 5th, we watched CNN in China as events took a significantly more positive turn.
So, I'm relieved that we'll have an Obama administration in office starting next week. However, sitting outside the US and reading about the meltdown of jobs, security, hope that is occurring -- capping off 8 years of misguided rule -- I'm baffled that there isn't outrage on the streets in America about where things stand.
Commenters on Daily Kos are clearly outraged by the criminal mismanagement and profound disregard for rule of law shown by the Bush Administration in its 2 terms in office, but why aren't Americans protesting on the streets? When I was in the US at Christmas, people appeared deeply fearful for the future, but I didn't sense anger, outrage, fury - all emotions that I'm experiencing strongly after observing what these criminals have done to our country, its constitutional system and our place in the world. Perhaps people are numb and haven't fully processed what the economic debacle means for our children, added on to the billions already poured into Iraq.
My question for readers of DK: Is there any way people can/will take to the streets on Thursday evening, walking in protest together in a visible way when Bush's farewell address is aired? How do we send a public signal to the outgoing administration that we're not buying their revisionist history of an utterly mismanaged reign? What steps can people take on Thursday night in the US that are tangible to the media and in the community that citizens are in fact outraged, that we are not accepting the nicely packaged lies, and that we see through to how despicable the Bush/Cheney administration truly is, regardless of how they present things in their departure interviews?