You've mentioned on the Forums and on here of your love for English alternative bands Radiohead and Coldplay.
Coldplay, I fell in love with I picked up X&Y in 2006. It's strange that I became a fan, but thought no.3 was their weakest effort. Radiohead came one year later, thanks to Keg from the O/T Forums. Seriously, both bands are just amazing. Chris Martin and Thom Yorke are like my yin and yang.
Your yin and yang?
Laughs. It's strange, I know, but they are. Thom is my more pessimistic side: he's the person who understands what it's like to have no connection with the stuff society markets to my generation; the person who feels as if i'm alone in this world. Chris is the eternal optimist: he's been there and come out the other side better than when he entered; the person who's constantly telling me to never yield to total despair.
So they're a reflection of the two sides of yourself.
Exactly. Radiohead's music is moody and constantly reflects on the sorry state of the world. Coldplay does that, but for the most part, prefer to see the glass half-full, and focus on the good that comes out of every situation, no matter how bleak. And that's me in a nutshell. Plus, they're two of the best bands in the world currently.
Let's apply the two sides to the Obama presidency. What would both have to say?
Well, "Thom" would sum up his presidency so far, by borrowing a line from Pete Townshend: "meet the new boss, same as the old boss." We're still in Iraq and escalating in Afghanistan, the health care system is still being run by greedy, blood-sucking insurance companies, and the same people who helped create the financial disaster head up the President's economic team. We might have changed leaders, but their policies still remain: help big business while the middle and working class continues to suffer.
I'm guessing "Chris" would have a different take.
Actually, he would agree with some of the points "Thom" brought up. He would also remind "Thom" of one of the things then-candidate Obama said: that there would be mistakes and false starts, and that change would not come easy. He would also point out that under the Obama Administration, that there has been significant change: The mere fact that he actually thinks things through, as opposed to making rash decisions and bragging about using his gut, like his predecessor did, is a revelation in of itself. We didn't get the public option plan we would want, but we did give 32 million people a chance to purchase health insurance and it eliminates pre-existing conditions, among other things; it develops a structure that will be improved upon in the near future. Just this week, Obama's brought together 49 nations and got them to agree to eradicate nuclear material in four years. None of this would have happened under a McCain/Palin administration.
And who would you side with?
With Chirs. The symbol for the Democratic Party is a donkey, and it suits our personality well: we're stubborn when we don't get everything we want in a single shot, and we lose sight of the bigger picture. Over at the Huffington Post, I keep hearing from other memebers on how Obama's sold out, and how it's time to abandon ship and vote for Ralph Nader. I want to scream out, "Are you serious?! Amp down the drama and get yourselves together!" Obama is not Jesus. He's not nearly every role Clint Eastwood has played as the Avenging Angel. Yes, he's sympathetic to our casue and yes, he is a liberal, but he's also not an idiot. He's beginning to realize that for all of his talks about being a post-partisan president, that it's probably not going to happen as long as the Republicans continue to pander to the crazy base that can't stand the fact that a white man is no longer in power.
Part three of our interview with Jonathan tomorrow.
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