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is obama clinically depressed 1
Ah, that reminds me. Meant to write about this earlier in the week when the same search term come up.
That day, Thursday, I believe, when I was two hours in the car and listening to public radio, two reporters who cover the White House commented on the president's tone in addressing to Republican opposition to admitting Syrian refugees. The reporters said it was obvious that the president was frustrated, angry, but that he hardly ever let that show in the past. And then one of them mentioned to the other that the president has a "bucket list," something that rhymes with "bucket list," is how the reporter put it. I got that that meant he had a "fuck it list" but I had no idea what either a bucket list or a fuck it list was. So, I done looked it up.
A "bucket list" is what you want to accomplish before you "kick the bucket," i.e. die. In this context, that would mean before Obama left office. That would make sense and would explain certain of the president's unilateral actions in the last year or so, taking executive action on immigration, renaming Mount McKinley, Denali. But that is not what the reporters said; they said he had something that "rhymes with bucket list," a "fuck it list."
My "Fuckit list": Yeah, I was going to write the Great American novel before I died, but I got busy. Also, you're going to have to clean the gutters without me. Fuck it.
Entry Pageviews
is obama clinically depressed 1
Ah, that reminds me. Meant to write about this earlier in the week when the same search term come up.
That day, Thursday, I believe, when I was two hours in the car and listening to public radio, two reporters who cover the White House commented on the president's tone in addressing to Republican opposition to admitting Syrian refugees. The reporters said it was obvious that the president was frustrated, angry, but that he hardly ever let that show in the past. And then one of them mentioned to the other that the president has a "bucket list," something that rhymes with "bucket list," is how the reporter put it. I got that that meant he had a "fuck it list" but I had no idea what either a bucket list or a fuck it list was. So, I done looked it up.
A "bucket list" is what you want to accomplish before you "kick the bucket," i.e. die. In this context, that would mean before Obama left office. That would make sense and would explain certain of the president's unilateral actions in the last year or so, taking executive action on immigration, renaming Mount McKinley, Denali. But that is not what the reporters said; they said he had something that "rhymes with bucket list," a "fuck it list."
So, what's a "fuck it list?" It seemed to me (being not unfamiliar with the first of those words) that a "fuck it list," or "fuckit list," would be the opposite of a bucket list. In context, that would mean the president had a list of things he had given up on, because he was depressed, frustrated, whatever. That also made sense since the president, every president but this one in particular, has been taking shots for seven fucking years from all comers, the Republicans continuously, from Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu particularly, from liberal supporters like Elizabeth Warren and Chuck Schumer, from Edward Snowden and Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian, from, way down the list, the blogosphere. Fuck it, fuck them, fuck all a you'uns.
This understanding of "fuckit list" was confirmed by a definition, from the Urban Dictionary, which the undersigned has consulted from time to time:
Had Obama really said that? It just seemed to me it would be completely uncharacteristic for the president, any president, to admit, even using the rhyming euphemism, that he had a list of things he had given up on. And, that I would have missed such a faux pas.
So, I googled "Obama fuck it list" and he had used the rhyming euphemism. This is what he said at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this year:
"I am determined to make the most of every moment I have left. After the midterm elections, my advisors asked me, 'Mr. President, do you have a bucket list.' And I said, 'Well, I have something that rhymes with bucket list.'"
The audience did not see that coming and roared with laughter. But, this is how he used it, he gave examples of what he meant:
"Executive action on immigration. Bucket.
New climate regulations. Bucket. It's the right thing to do."
That is beautifully written comedy, naughty confused, obfuscated, teasing, and ultimately, as delivered, not naughty at all, he means I have a list of things I want to get done before I leave, a true bucket list, with the rhyming line thrown in in confusing, amusing naughtiness.
I do think Barack Obama was depressed when I wrote that original post. A president has cameras recording his every move, word, and mood every day, 8-10 hours a day, I would guess. Obama does not seem to wear a mask as much as other presidents, he seems to be fairly expressive, I mean, the photos of him with Putin--he wasn't putting on a happy face for the cameras there!; the lone walks; after the spying revelations he had bags under his eyes, his hair began to gray, Putin even noticed, said he liked giving Obama gray hair.
However, I also wrote, in the last year it seems to me, that it appeared to me that Obama had decided to "fuck it," that he was going to act where he could act, alone, and not worry about cooperation, not worry about his critics; that in his second term, we were seeing, by his actions, what was important to Obama personally: police-Black people, immigration, Cuba, Iran. A person who has a true bucket list and who acts upon it, is not someone who is depressed.
