I can’t tell you how happy I am about President Obama’s recent u-turn on Guantanamo. It helped drive the last nail in the coffin of a peculiar naivete I had nurtured for a couple of years. It was fun being all starry-eyed for a while, but in my heart I knew it was all too good to be true. One of candidate Obama’s most clever and inspiring lines on the campaign trail – that “cynicism is a sorry kind of wisdom” – rings pretty hollow these days. In fact, my cynism is serving me quite well right about now, thank you very much. I need it to stave off the heartbreaking dissapointment I’ve been feeling because of candidate Obama’s bizarre transformation into president Obama.  Recently, in response to the Rolling Stone piece about Psy Ops and politicians, we jokingly asked if indeed maybe American politicians were being brainwashed. As I lightheartedly pondered the topic, I remembered a joke I made with a friend when President Obama started sustaining Bush era policies. We agreed that “they” (you know, the Illuminati or whoever they are) must have taken him aside right after the inauguration, waterboarded him, and threatened him with the tragic demise of his family or something if he didn’t do exactly as they said. How else to explain the bizarrely Bushy behavior that our smiling, confident, man of change and hope was suddenly exhibiting? The cognitive dissonance was overwhelming for a while. I found myself making up all sorts of weird excuses for the president’s neocon-ish behavior. One was based on the fact that he and I are the same age. I’d ponder how we’d actually have a lot in common, and how I’d say to myself “Wow. Okay, imagine putting those presidential shoes on at our age. What a burden! What a challenge!” And, well…what a joke! The truth is that although we’re the same age, while he was entering Harvard with dreams of politics, I was pursuing recording contracts with my post punk synthpop, and generally detesting Harvard graduates and the values they commonly espoused. Who was I kidding? And while on balance I have to say – especially in light of the clusterfuck he walked into – that he’s certainly not a bad president, I could comfortably say the same of Reagan, Bush Sr, and Clinton. The fact is I just have incredible buyer remorse. But in the end, I’m thankful, because Barack Obama’s presidency has been part of a great lesson for me, especially in light of the recent civil uprisings around the world. And that lesson is that change won’t come from some guy in Washington, it will come from people like you and me, whenever we get off our asses and make it happen. And one final thought for you if you’re still a rabid supporter of Barack Obama. Go read these remarks of his from November 2007, or this ethics agenda from the same period, and tell me you still have faith in the man. Because if you do, I have some beautiful waterfront property in Cuba I’d like to sell you.