The wolves and the sheep

He is too good to be true. I cannot help but think this as I read page 30 in today’s Observer, about Barack Obama’s visit to Ghana. How on earth, after endless years of obvious corruption in the White House, can such a peacful visionaire hold the position of the most powerful man in the world?

The cynics would shun this, and to be honest I am quite fed up with it all. ”He can’t change the world” or ”he’s just like the others” chant the cynical and the bitter. Of course he can’t! He is indeed the berry of a bush just like the others, planted and fertilized and coppiced just like the others, with an intricate, secret root system beneath it. But nonetheless, can’t we at least agree that this berry, whilst unable to solve all the world’s problem overnight, has the power to plant some seeds for future generations?

OK, enough with the puns.

A product of sleek marketing campaigns, subtly hypnotising speeches and antropological bullets, Barack Obama is indeed like any other president of the United States. But I sincerely believe that by winning the election he has invoked new hope for the apathetic, scared the crap out of warmongers and, I must agree, showed that ”yes we can”. Perhaps this ulv i fårakläder (wolf in a sheep’s costume) can at least show the other wolves a more sympathetic way of living? I am not one to justify one evil with another, but some things has sunk so low that no other solution is in sight.

Perhaps I’m just a hopeless optimist. But perhaps I’m right. Or perhaps we shouldn’t let our guard down whilst treating our hearts to the occasional leap of joy.