We've been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. That was said by Barack Obama.

Hope does open doors though. The inability to open up to hope is what blocks trust, and blocked trust is the reason for blighted dreams. Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.

On the other hand Friedrich Nietzsche said: Hope is the worst of evils, for it prolongs the torments of man.

Jeez, let's hope that doesn't mean what I think it means.

I've reached the point of wondering if it's just me, but I've been finding Garrison Keillor to be really tiresome and boring. I used to be a dedicated listener to "Prairie Home Companion," I enjoyed hearing his "Writer's Almanac," and enjoyed reading his column.

No more. "Prairie Home Companion" has become a sleepwalk, with gratuitous and cheap political shots crammed in for some reason or other. "Writer's Almanac" induces sleep at a time when I am just waking up. This article is the hat trick. I had to force myself to finish it. No flow, no rhythm, no progression. Just a collection of words.

I didn't notice the mischief in Obama's daughters. Maybe being young and energetic appears as mischief after a certain age. I also didn't notice that Obama and his wife are overachievers. I suppose one could say that if one were making the argument that "African-Americans" shouldn't aim too high. There are certainly many thousands, if not millions, in this country who believe he has achieved above his station.

Writing is not about just putting down whatever comes to mind. It might be tempting when one has reached a plateau of success, but it is an insult to readers.

My laid-off teeth are getting by on hope now, hoping for a new job with dental insurance. My dentist is hoping too. How do you say all this in French?

HappyJack makes an excellent and important point. By what kind of thinking does one call the Obamas "overachievers?" Except on the most superficial reading, what an insult that is. Barack Obama has not yet begun to overachieve. His abilities appear to me to be enormous, and for once (yes, I exclude Clinton) we have someone in the White House who appears worthy of the position by the light of overwhelming intelligence and good character.

Mr. Keillor has fallen to the level of a lazy nonthinker, overly reliant on the glib and the sentimental. To imagine that "we" are all equally self-satisfied "genteel burghers" with a "what-me-worry?" leer, is nothing but a paean to the mediocrity, nay, incompetence, that so recently hath plagued us.

President Obama (God, I love writing that) has the lives of 300 million Americans in his hands.

Given that the US is arguably the most powerful country in the world, he has the lives of most of the people in the world in his hands.

And he's just a man. A brilliant, talented man, but just a man.

"Overachiever" can be truthfully said about _anyone_ in that position, in that office.

This made me feel hopeful, reminding me of the day of the inauguration, when I couldn't be far from a tissue box. Thanks for sharing this with us, the hope and the wisdom.

He'd better be.

I sure do love you, Mr. K.

P.S. That last paragraph? GOLD.

At least it resonates with me. For the first time in about 7 years I can say without embarassment "I am an American". Finally.

UBERGEEKY

(a memoir of the downfall)

‘Twas Bush league, and the slimy toads

Did lie and gamble with our fate;

All flimsy were the moral codes

That should have kept them straight.

“Beware the Ubergeek, you con,

The tongue that speaks, the mind that thinks;

Avoid the democrats, and shun

Decent people as dinks.”

But look: A supple mind commands

The field, and bullies must obey:

They robbed us blind, but now their kind

Has had its brightest day.

Like crawfish in the bottom mud,

They stirred up clouds of murk and muck;

They hadn’t tortured, pillaged. They were good.

And what kind of a name is Barack?

They never thought the time would come

When brains and courage beat their butts,

When honesty thrashed villainy

And said, Now who’s the klutz?

“And hast thou lost to ubergeeks?

Go to your cells, you thieves and crooks.

O blessed day, let habeus stay!

A Potus who reads books!”

‘Twas Bush league, and the slimy toads

Did lie and gamble with our fate;

All flimsy were the moral codes

That should have kept them straight.

Garrison, just wanted to point out that you ended the article by saying "Ich bin ein Amerikaner". In much the same way that Kennedy was, essentially, a Bavarian-creme donut as "ein Berliner", you have just declared yourself...a black-and-white cookie. "Ich bin Amerikaner" is the statement of nationality, but "ein Amerikaner" is 10cm of black and white frosted goodness. Sorry.

In the 2nd comment from the top, "Over the hill," HappyJack said, "Writing is not about just putting down whatever comes to mind."

I notice that HappyJack is a frequent and mostly thoughtful commentator, but that he does not write here on a schedule, as Keillor does. Give the guy a break!

It's hard to be thoroughly brilliant every single Saturday on the radio and every Wednesday in Salon. And so what if his brilliance is "evolving" with age. We are blessed to have Garrison Keillor's graceful wit available to us so frequently, and for free!

I like to think that Keillor would never ever use his position to denigrate another writer as "over the hill." If he does become a crank (like HappyJack?), then I might change my mind.

So GK's still a little giddy after watching that helicopter take off from the White House.

So what -- I am too! Give the guy a break, and get over yourselves.

ds