It’s a brand new year (finally) and America is ready to literally never think about 2018 again. That is, unless it’s to be reminded by a guy the country misses of the good things we actually got done in 2018. And believe me, America needs a reminder. Last year was so long my wife didn’t believe me when I told her we had an Olympics a year ago. But okay, let’s have it, straight from the last decent person to hold the office of President:
In 2018 people stepped up and showed up like never before. Keep it up in 2019. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and I’ll be right there with you. Happy New Year, everybody!
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 1, 2019
You know what? We totally did. All year long, people predicted a “blue wave” in the midterm election, and although we never expected Democrats to take over the Senate, they rolled into the House of Representatives more like a tsunami.
But it wasn’t just voting. Last year saw this country undergo a radical transformation in the way we think about harassing or assaulting women. We used the power of the internet to unmask Nazis and white supremacists and plain old vanilla racists who did everything from marching in anti-semitic rallies to calling the police on young black children for selling bottled water or accidentally brushing up against someone in a store.
We got tantalizingly close to outlawing the song “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins. Or did I dream that one? Well, regardless. I heard it a lot less last year, and any year when that song gets even slightly less airtime can’t be all bad.
So Obama thought, if we can’t have a President who just tweets, you know, nice things on the one day of the year when everyone’s supposed to be hopeful and motivated and refreshed, he’d just have to step in and do it himself. And what’s that about being “right there with you” at the end there? Do we have a little Obama-style campaigning to look forward to this year, instead of the constant hate rallies featuring Donald Trump and 10,000 of his biggest fans?
It sure sounds like it, and that’s something to look forward to here on the first day of 2019.
Thanks, man.
Featured image via Department of Defense
