Lexicon of Disappointment: The Readers' Edition
A few days ago I posted my column "Hopeover, Hopelash, Hopebreak: A Lexicon of Disappointment" and asked readers to send suggestions and modifications. The goal was to come up with a more complete lexicon as we near the 100-day mark.
700 or so comments later, here are the best of the bunch. Let the record show that you people are way more cynical than I am...
Hope-ache. Sample sentence: "Not tonight, dear. I have a hope-ache and it's got Obama written all over it. " Posted by BeastOfYuccaFlats.
Hopestick. "Kind of like Dipstick, someone who was really naive enough to believe that Obama was Jesus." Posted by Somefool.
Hopeback. "Like blowback (an unfortunate set of circumstances that occur after our nation has made mistakes overseas), hopeback refers to the unfortunate consequences that occur as the result of mistakes made by Obama supporters so blinded by the prospect of what Obama stood for, they neglected to listen to what he actually said." Posted by Egaeus.
Hope Floats. This one comes from John Cusack, who worries that hope got waterboarded and there won't be a trial for the guy who did it.
Hope-a-Doped. "Folks who maybe thought the presidency was an all-powerful position might feel somewhat Hope-a-Doped upon learning sometimes the answer is 'No, we can't.'" Posted by TheEmptinessOfTruthiness.
Hopetimism. "The belief that your president is strategically laying low and not rocking the boat too much, while inviting insults and wacky vitriol from Republicans until they just give up harassing him. At that point, he will unleash all the plans he's been storing up for making our lives better. Then he'll get the last laugh at the Republicans' expense! He'll show them!" Posted by Toypiano. (Related submission: "Hopeaholic")
InstaHope-A-Matic. "Thinking that President Obama can fulfill your every dream in 90 days or less." Posted by LeftLeanWing. (I think that's a shot at me!)
And just to end on a positive note:
Organic Hope-ilizer. That stuff that people don't like, but is healthy and necessary to grow healthy Hoperoots. Posted by anachoret.
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No one expects Obama to fix everything in 100 days. What we do expect are clear signals that we are headed it he right direction. Having an economic adviser whose ideas and actions helped caused this financial crisis is not a good sign. Ignoring the warnings of the economists who have been correct on this issue for the past eight years is not a good sign.
He is taking positions on a several issues, that don't look very promising to his base - such as FISA, Bagram AFB, EFCA, healthcare reform and the war on drugs. For a man who is pragmatic, trying to turn the drug cartels in Mexico into a "localized criminal problem" doesn't seem to address the root cause of the problem. I didn't see the same thoughtful, commonsense candidate when he was laughing off the idea of legalizing or de-criminalizing marijuana in his online townhall meeting.
These are legitimate areas of concern. Now is the time to raise the alarm and voice that concern. Progressive need to continue to put pressure on him. The same was true with FDR.
Any reasoned, informed and thoughtful discussion on these issues is productive. What's not productive is trying to shut that discussion down.
Incidentally, here's my contribution to the lexicon:
Hopressure - The continued pressure put on the President to turn Hope into Change.
Pressure??? On the King??? Have you not been paying attention lately? Obama has more than embraced The Unitary Executive, he has expanded it. Now he can, by decree, absolve people of confessed crimes. Now he can pick an choose which laws to enforce and which to ignore. He is the very definition of a tyrant. So pressure??? There is no pressure that can be put on King Unitary Executive Barak Obama. His bubble is pressure free.
Interesting blog post and comments. Relevantly, as many influential voices have repeatedly said, Obama is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X. Google Generation Jones, and you'll see it’s gotten a ton of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) specifically use this term to describe Obama.
It is important to distinguish between the post-WWII demographic boom in births vs. the cultural generations born during that era. Generations are a function of the common formative experiences of its members, not the fertility rates of its parents. Many experts now believe it breaks down this way:
DEMOGRAPHIC boom in babies: 1946-1964
Baby Boom GENERATION: 1942-1953
Generation Jones: 1954-1965
Generation X: 1966-1978
Here's a 5 minute video with over 20 top political figures discussing the existence and importance of GenJones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ta_Du5K0jk
Here is a recent op-ed about Obama as the first GenJones President in USA TODAY:
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090127/column27_st.art.htm
Generation Jones: 1954-1965
Jones is the straight icky and I do mean a ripple generation, a wrinkle between old and new. Bridging the gap through time, from old to new. Covering the stars and stripes of the still flowing red white and blue. Thus eliminating discussions of old and new and recalling that we are all in this together and everyone is important and everyone needs to do better...and be better...to weather this storm of change that came on a morn of domestic challenge, world peril, and economic pain.
Yeah, that sounds like Obama.
HopelliPop -- An all day sucker.
HopeTaffy -- Flexible, long lasting hope.
HopeOthesis -- The ideological construct of hope
HopeReal or RealHope -- No fear, no illusions, no tears, and no confusion, never held any messianic illusions and tend to shy away from hasty partisan or self-indulgent, self-promoting conclusions that might amount to intrusions on change in process. Are you hope rich, do you have hope to invest? Is there a time limit on hope? Is hope more a marathon than a short distance test of speed? Does hope address needs? One thing is sure, hope will not feed the children or clothe the masses, it will not protect the collective @sses from pain that comes in the torrential rain of a society come undone. HopeReal should not find you hoping for better days to come. HopeReal is how you feel and that is what really decides whether one has lost or won. If you feel bad, if you think you have been had, if the quality of life has been affected by another, some other sister or brother, your role and your goal should be to free yourself from the trick bag of dependency as soon as possible. Don’t wallow!
How?
Study hard, work hard, save, network, create opportunity for yourself, because HopeReal says, one cannot leave these things up to anyone else. Government has a role to play and you can be sure it will play it. People may or may not be the priority and they may or may not say it.
Hope-on-a-Rope...hoping obama does the right things but hanging on by a thread after what I've seen so far on major issues, not minor ones.
What was left in pandora's box after all the evil had escaped? Hope.
67% of the people are not wrong.
What took 8 years to screw up
cannot be fixed in a few weeks.
Keep hope alive.
It's puzzling -- when I read the comments after Naomi's post first came out, they were way supportive of Obama (as I am). Yet the title of her latest post might lead one to believe that the critics were in the majority. I'm a hope-aholic, and it will take a lot longer than Obama's first 100 days to persuade me otherwise. I think 8 years of bushisms and idiocy made it very hard for us to sustain hope in even the most admirable human beings.
Hopewinked: A lot of people feel hoodwinked by hope they just may not be able to believe in.
After some soul searching, I think we must each be responsible for our own hope. No one can do our hoping for us. We can express our views, our desires and our expectations and then others will respond as they will.
Thank God I have a mind of my own! President Obama is doing a great job!!
For the record, the people are way more (insert negative quality, natural or acquired) than you are. From where I look out at the world, Obama has changed the tone globally, and given the leaders of other countries a reason to be cheerful in their regard for American intentions. Alot more people feel good when they see him and hear him, than the other guy and his crew. The benefit of a parliamentary system is the capability of government collapse. Unfortunately, Bush was there far too long, and the American people recognise their culpability in electing him the second time, which then motivated a surge in participation to break the Republican domination of government and the mainstream media. We are moving in a progressive direction, but the uber-rich are holding out in their tax havens to maintain their control.
Glad you found something positive to end the lexicon on a hopetastic note!
WOW!
I made it in the lexicon (do I get extra-credit for being positive?).
Keep on postin', Naomi. I love your work, and this site needs the perspective you bring. It'd be great if you could talk Mr. Cusack into dropping a few more posts on us as well. If hope got waterboarded, it probably happened in Grover Norquist's bath-tub, while he was drowning Uncle Sam.
Congratulations!
Hopelessful: (adv.) someone who is so devoid of hope that they are against everything that could turn into hope; to be without hope and deride others that hope. See GOP, Republicans, RNC, Fox News, Party of No.
RealHope
It will be what it will be! The president will deliver or he will not. The circumstances that will cause him to succeed or fail will be as they turn out to be. The naysayers will be who they are. The cheerleaders will play their role. The doubters, the haters, the dissenters, the “loyal” opposition, the delusional, the influence peddlers, the masters of all universes will come to bear, and the committed, the reasoned, the loving, the kind, the supportive, the thoughtful, they too will be part of the mix. All any one individual need do is ask, what is my contribution to success or failure to the degree that I have access and influence? RealHope is all about what I can do and not what the president can do for me. RealHope says I hope the president is taking care of business and he will be judged if he is not or if he is, but in the meantime my life looms large and RealHope says I am too small for the government to really concern itself. RealHope says it does not matter the failings or successes of a president, each is on their own and that is as it has been forever. The environment is what it is, clues abound about what it is, yet we continue to be told to be concerned, to be active, to play the game. No thanks. RealHope says life is no game.
This is joyful optimism.
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