"Becky, you're a rose. Will you let me be your thorn?"
These words come from Otto the bus driver, proposing to his girlfriend as the classic Poison ballad wails in the background. This episode has some other great one-liners, but I'm using this one to get on a soapbox.
This song should be the anthem for the US now. Why you ask? Well, I'll tell you even if you're not asking that. I will use just a few examples:
1. Rose: Being the world power is great. A lot of privilege, prestige, kickbacks, security, free trade agreements, Google, nachos, Disneyland, etc. It wasn't easy to be the world's leading power (or keeping it that way either), but following the Cold War, you know, that thing in history books kids learn about now, the US rose to be the world's only power. Rose.
Thorn: Everyone hates you. Except Mongolia. Just look at what's happened in the past few years: Western Europe, whose bacon we've saved on numerous occasions, has been frostier and frostier to us. Relations with South Korea have been declining. Sections of Islam see the US as the Great Satan. Latin America wants us to leave it alone (and I'm not just talking about Chavez). The UN ignores us and we it. And lest we forget, 9/11 was inspired by hate of the US. But at least Eastern Europe and Mongolia still like us.
2. Rose: President Obama as president. Now, before you freak on me, the fact is more that an African-American man was elected president. 40 years ago, that was almost blasphemy. But it has happened. He is highly idealistic, which has some up sides for the president.
Thorn: Well, I don't think I need to explicate too much. Health care. Spending spree. Extreme party division lines. Inexperience, both foreign and domestic. Highly idealistic.
There's probably more, but I'm trying to write this before class. Bret Michaels was really on to something, before that something was Celebrity Apprentice. Thank you, Otto, I believe I will let you be my thorn.
