Here I go again...

...getting excited about Barack Obama; telegenic, young, dynamic, promising 'change', not being too specific about policies and what he believes in, highly intelligent, the opposite of the Old Order, etc etc etc.

Now, where have I heard all this before? Oh yes, ten years ago in Britain. My almost total hatred of everything that our Government has subsequently done has caused me to rethink my, and indeed 'our', belief in Utopian politics. Why do we believe career politicians who promise to change everything and make the world better for all - that's right, absolutely everybody - as if that were ever possible? What is it in our nature that compels us to fall for this, again and again? It seems to be a particular malaise of us 'liberals' - funny term that, must write a whole blog about it - that we want to believe in a saviour, as long as s/he isn't a religious one. John Gray writes that humanists, far from being non-religious, have a religious faith in the idea of progress and human development, and that (ahem) 'Things can only get better'. We keep on hoping that this is the case, despite all our disappointments and all the evidence to the contrary.

I still say 'Good Luck Barack', although I really have no idea why...

(photo by seiu_international on Flickr)