By Margaret Atwood, The Guardian

Canadians don't hand out the hero tickets easily, unless to hockey players or soldiers from world wars one and two. So, Obama-wise, here's my best shot.

A hoary Canadian joke: a bear biologist is walking the tundra with his young assistant. He's carrying a stick.

"What's that stick?" asks the young guy.

"That's my bear stick," says the older one.

"It's flimsy," says the young guy. "Not much good for hitting a bear."

"It's not for hitting the bear," says the old guy. "I don't need to run faster than the bear: I only need to run faster than you."

And so, to quote Kurt Vonnegut, it goes.

Barack Obama didn't need to run faster than the idealised 2008 concept of him; he only needed to run faster than Romney. Both were hitting each other with their bear sticks, and they were also hitting themselves. But, in the end, Obama was less self-wounded.

And he was clear on several matters that muddied the waters for the Republicans. He stood up for groups that were underestimated by his opponents, feared by them, or treated with contempt by them because of race, national origin, or gender.

In particular, Republicans appeared openly hostile to women. Romney was hurt by – but did not fully repudiate – the four extreme Republican "rape candidates", who variously said women raped easy and that it was only rape the next morning, that if they got pregnant a rape hadn't been "legitimate", or that rape-engendered babies were God's gifts. Rape plus the denial of abortion would have the effect of enforced childbirth.

Notwithstanding the Obama win, there are some disturbing laws being proposed in individual states. Totalitarianisms always try to control women's bodies, one way or another. But those US citizens with viable ovaries can breathe a little easier: The Handmaid's Tale is still just a novel, at least on the national level.

Obama's opponents want more tax cuts and less government spending, which means, of course, fewer jobs and less support for public programmes. The rich don't need public programmes: they can buy much of what they want; the not-rich usually understand group cost-sharing a little better. There are limits to how far individual responsibility can stretch, just as there are limits to how much of anyone's body the state should own.

Why isn't each of us responsible for the upkeep of the roads in front of our houses, as we used to be? Hands up for enforced organ donation and mandatory euthanasia, anyone? (And, by the way, the much-derided stimulus packages worked better than the alternative would have done.)

An important result of the Obama win is that supreme court vacancies over the next four years will be filled by him, not by Romney. That's major, and not only for women.

But I've saved the most important difference for last. Extreme Republicans are, by and large, climate change deniers. However, saying a thing ain't so won't make it go away: the catastrophic floods in New York arrived with hurricane Sandy just before the election like a big exclamation mark: Listen up! Chemistry and physics don't negotiate, but they do balance accounts in their own disagreeable way. And, says the Pentagon, over the coming decades climate change will be a huge contributor to global instability. Obama understands that. His opponents do not.

If Obama is a hero, he's more like a marathon runner than a sprinter. He's endured a gruelling four years, with the US pulling out of a recession caused by its own self-inflicted wounds: costly, dubious wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2008 crash and mortgage meltdown set off by reckless deregulation, and the offshore outsourcing of numerous jobs. And he's had relentless opposition from the Tea Party Republicans in the House.

But now he has a second and final term, and he doesn't have to worry about mollifying his detractors. Will he stop pulling his punches? Will he outrun the bears? Let's see.

 

best shot

přibližně: nejlepší pokus; to nejlepší,co znám

by and large

celkem vzato

denial

odmítání

denier

popírač

derided

vysmívaný

disturbing

znepokojivý

detractor

kritik, pomlouvač

endure

přestát

enforced

vynucený

engender

zplozený

exclamation mark

vykřičník

flimsy

chatrný, chabý

group cost-sharing

kolektivní sdílení nákladů

gruelling

vyčerpávající, únavný

hand out

rozdávat

Handmaid's Tale

sci-fi román Margaret Atwoodové odehrávající se v blízké budoucnosti v USA ovládaných církví

hoary

otřepaný

hostile

nepřátelský

meltdown

kolaps, zhroucení

mollify

uklidnit

muddy sth

zakalit něco

notwithstanding

navzdory něčemu; bez ohledu na něco

Obama-wise

o Obamovi informovaný/ s Obamou obeznámený člověk

offshore

zde: zahraniční

outrun sb

předběhnout někoho, běžet rychleji než někdo

ovaries

vaječníky

pull sb's punches

brát si servítky

rape

znásilnění

relentless

neúprosný, vytrvalý

repudiate

odsoudit, zavrhnout

self-wounded (to be ~ )

způsobit si zranění

so it goes

tak to chodí

stand up for sb

zastávat se někoho, hájit něčí zájmy

treat with contempt

zacházet opovržlivě

upkeep

údržba

vacancy

volné místo

viable

funkční

 

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