When the President Talks to God

I was thinking yesterday about writing how I felt about the Iraqi elections. I was feeling somehow convinced that maybe this was a good thing, that maybe, despite all of the bullshit, despite the war mongering and culture raping and oil stealing, that maybe, just maybe there was some hope in it all. I am not convinced that there is not hope. However I think the hope exists apart from and in spite of the occupying United States military. The 8 million or whatever Iraqi people that chose to participate in this election did so, not because they support the U.S. invading their country, or that they support the democratization and westernization of the Middle East. No, they did so because it symbolized a shred of hope that they had some amount of control over their own future and the future of their home. They are a strong people and a noble people and I feel ashamed for what my country has been doing to them for the past decade or so.

I saw a Bright Eyes show last night. Having never seen a Bright Eyes show before, I came away with the feeling that it probably wasn't the best show that Bright Eyes has ever played. I was, however, swept along with the passion and emotion of Conor Obursts protest songwriting. His song, "When the President talks to God" was fucking amazing! All of the false pride or good feeling I had perhaps felt for what my country was doing with the Iraqi elections quickly evaporated. Here are the lyrics to that song:

When the President talks to God, are the conversations brief or long?
Does he ask to rape our womens rights, and send poor farm kids off to die?
Does God suggest an oil hike, when the President talks to God?
When the President talks to God, are the consonants all hard or soft?
Is he resolute all down the line? Is every issue black or white?
Does what God say ever change his mind, when the President talks to God?
When the President talks to God, does he fake that drawl or merely nod?
Agree which convicts should be killed? Where prisons should be built and filled?
Which voter fraud must be concealed, when the President talks to God?
When the President talks to God, I wonder which one plays the better cop.
"We should find some jobs, the ghetto's broke," "No, they're lazy, George, I say we don't;
just give 'em more liqour stores and dirty coke!" That's what God recommends.
When the President talks to God, do they drink near beer and go play golf while they pick which countries to invade, which Muslim souls still can be saved?
I guess God just calls a spade a spade when the President talks to God.
When the President talks to God, does he ever think that maybe he's not?
That that voice is just inside his head, when he kneels next to the presidential bed?
Does he ever smell his own bullshit? When the President talks to God?
I doubt it...I doubt it.

Talk about it.