Will Butler
Will Butler is a multi-instrumentalist and member of Arcade Fire.
REASON 87: Because it’s okay for foreign countries to like America, and it’s better to not live in constant fear of shadowy foreign threats.
I like that Obama isn’t trying to scare me.I like that he ended the color-coded terror alerts. Do you remember those? Every ten minutes as you walked through the airport: “Attention passengers, the Homeland Security Threat Level has been raised to orange,” in a weird, TV-announcer-on-Quaaludes voice. My world feels less dystopian with those half-useless, half-creepy announcements gone.
I like that he cut the phrase “global war on terror,” which implied that the enemy was everywhere and made of the stuff of nightmares. Obama’s preferred phrase, “at war with Al Qaeda,” isn’t soft, but it doesn’t inflate the threat.
I like that he tried to have the 9/11 conspirators tried in civilian court—to show that they weren’t scary super-villains, but low, low criminals.
There are dangers in the world, yes, but we don’t need to fear them blindly—we need to see them clearly. Obama acts like we should engage the world, not shrink from it.
I want four more years of confident, moral, level-headed engagement with the rest of the world.
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Montreal, Quebec, Canada
REASON 28:
Because corporations are not people. People are better. read essay →
REASON 42:
President Obama has done something about mountaintop removal. read essay →
REASON 78:
President Obama is serious about reintegrating our soldiers into civilian life—and he proved it.read essay →