Arianna Huffington: "Hope" Has Been a Bust, It's Time for Hope 2.0

[Better Believe It]

Arianna Huffington
"Hope" Has Been a Bust, It's Time for Hope 2.0
January 18, 2010

On the eve of the first anniversary of President Obama's inauguration, it's become painfully obvious that elected officials are not going to save us. The 2008 election was all about "Hope." But Hope is simply not cutting it.

What we need is Hope 2.0: the realization that our system is too broken to be fixed by politicians, however well intentioned -- that change is going to have to come from outside Washington.

This realization is especially resonant as we celebrate Dr. King, whose life and work demonstrate the vital importance of social movements in bringing about change. Indeed, King showed that no real change can be accomplished without a movement demanding it.

As Frederick Douglass put it: "Power never concedes anything without a demand; it never has and it never will."

But the question is, can this righteous -- and entirely justifiable -- rage be productively channeled to produce a real movement for reform, or will it be hijacked by tea party wackos and dangerous demagogues?

Five-and-a-half years ago, Hope was ignited by an unknown state senator standing up and proclaiming that we are not blue states and red states, but one people. One people that can only solve our problems together.

One year ago, Hope was about crossing our fingers and electing leaders that we thought would enact real change. Hope 2.0 is about using the lessons of Dr. King to create the conditions that give them no other choice.

Read the full article at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/hope-has-been-a-bust-its_b_427314.html

[branders seine]

1. Does this mean the Change beta is over?

[Motown_Johnny]

4. Bleh.... I never even finished the download

[branders seine]

9. No worries.

It was incredibly buggy.

[Motown_Johnny]

10. I'll bet.... and my hardware needed an upgrade to run it anyways

[branders seine]

13. You will HAVE to buy v1.0, so you better get to upgrading.

[Motown_Johnny]

15. it may be time for a whole new system

[undeterred]

17. 30 million bugs (features) discovered

[joeybee12]

2. When the people lead, the leaders will follow...n/t

[FSogol]

3. Waaaaaa, Obama is not fixing EVERYTHING FAST ENOUGH for me. Waaaaaaa

:cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

[begin_within]

5. In fact, he's making everything worse

by capitulating to vested big-money special interests instead of the public interest, he's making the problems he inherited worse.

[DJ13]

6. Shhhh

You'll ruin his delusion.

[FSogol]

14. Have you ever been satisfied by any leader at any time? n/t

[Better Believe It]

16. Yes. Depends on what issue(s) you have in mind.

On the Health Insurance Industry and Big Pharma Protection Act I am not satisfied.

In fact, I'm angry with this piece of horse shit legislation which will only make things even worse for working people and the middle class.

How about yourself?

[MUAD_DIB]

8. It took a good 8 years of Dubya behind the wrecking ball to do

to the US what he did for Texas.


Is Obama actually supposed to walk on water or something?

[Better Believe It]

12. And it only took President Obama one year to make things even worse?

[MUAD_DIB]

18. Bullshit.

[Better Believe It]

19. An enlightened and informed response.

It's the economy, health care, civil liberties and the wars.

How have things improved in the past year on those hot button issues?

I'm listening.

[pocoloco]

11. It's amazing he gets anything done

with so many heads up his ass!

[begin_within]

7. So Microsoft wrote Hope 1.0

I forgot to download the patch to the patch to the patch to the patch to the patch.