New Day

Vorticist (1915)

It's gonna be a new day for you
A new day for you
The stars have played their part
The past is gone and done
--New Day for You, Basia

Ooh-oo child, things are gonna get easier
Ooh-oo child, things'll get brighter
--Ooh Child, Nina Simone

Gray skies are gonna clear up,
Put on a happy face;
Brush off the clouds and cheer up,
Put on a happy face.
--Put on a Happy Face, Bye Bye Birdie

First He came a preachin' -- Amen!
Then He came a teachin' -- Amen!
Tellin' them disciples --
A-A-men, A-men, A-men!
--Amen, Jester Hairson (Lillies of the Field, 1963)
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Our British peers at AfterDowningStreet ran a contest last Friday on Obama's pending name change of U.S. military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq from whatever it was before to Operation New Dawn, come 10.1.10. "What would you call it?", they asked. Being Brits, there is some droll humor.

The last entrant, John R. Miles, offered: "A recruiting tool for terrorists against U.S." Not very catchy, but it gets the point across. I mean, I know Team Obama is hoping to infuse some new blood into this thing, but "New Dawn" sounds like a wimpy re-make of Red Dawn, or maybe even a deoderant.

Not even a deoderant like Jack Black's Pit Boss. No, something along the lines of Burberry's latest ("An opening of bergamot, lavender, cinnamon leaves, and black pepper. The heart consist of mimosa flower, port wine, and leather notes. At the base it's guaiac wood, oakmoss, opoponax, and tobacco leaf.') I'm sure I would like opoponax if I knew what it was.

'Cause y'know, we're just tired of the same old stuff. Whack-a-mole is boring even at the fair. I really want to know about the shape of New Day; I mean, will we wake up Sept. 1st and everyone just turns a new leaf? It will be almost autumn and very symbolic in that way.

Well, I like the name, because there's a lot of hope in it. I mean, New Day is not Old Day, right? Though we must be careful, because as many of us know, the new day can be the same as the old day. Sun risin' and settin' doesn't make for a change, just another sheet ripped from the calendar book.

At least it's not one of those dour quasi-biblical, quasi-Armageddonesque operation names. Operation New Day -- maybe truthful (new, not necessarily better), and it continues an operation preferably carried out during the days.

According to a memo signed by Defense Secretary Gates this new name better fits with the Security Agreement the US has with Iraq. Gates wrote in a recently released memo, "Aligning the name change with the change of mission sends a strong signal that Operation Iraqi Freedom has ended and our forces are operating under a new mission." [That's what it was -- Iraqi Freedom.] So, get that, everyone -- freedom is SO yesterday.

Can I have an "A-men"? Hal-le-lu-jah! Ooh chile, things are gonna get easier; Ooh chile, things'll get brighter. Though in the case of Afghanistan, I fear it will only be when we leave.