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By tafkass | January 20, 2009 - 8:30 am - Posted in Fatuous comments and ridiculous generalisations
Washington DC; temperature minus 6 degrees; over 1,000,000 visitors thronging the streets sharing only 5000 temporary toilets. Well, they did say it’d be a cold day in hell…
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When I logged into MySpace, it had this at the top:
“Hey guys—Today’s Presidential Inauguration is going to be one of the biggest historical events in our nation’s history and you can watch it live on MySpace Impact starting at 8:30 am PT/ 11:30 am ET. Also, yesterday we launched the Presidential Pledge project encouraging celebrities to record a pledge of service to President-elect Barack Obama. More than 50 celebrities document their pledges to our new President—check out the video and create your own video at http://www.myspace.com/presidentialpledge.”
Political leanings aside: the fervor genuinely disturbs me.
Come on, Cane - whatever your politics (and leaving aside my crappy borderline racist punnery), it’s a hugely significant day for everyone on the whole planet. Symbolically significant, maybe, but significant nonetheless.
I did a lot of soul-searching before the election; wrote blogs about it; talked to ton of people about it… All I can say is: for me, it’s not very significant, and I’m genuinely surprised at how much so it is for others.
I can’t elaborate without insulting people–probably including yourself–and I doubt it would be well-received anyway. I know, I know: since when have I been concerned with that? Call it a New Year’s Resolution.
Although I’m happy about Obama’s election - partly because of what progress it represents, but also partly because of his policies as a man, and not just a black man - I too am slightly cynical about the extent of the fervour. When we watched the election coverage, there were white British girls absolutely sobbing and going into hysterics through sheer joy. To me, that is going just a little over the top - no emotion, please, we’re British - and is also slightly insulting to the people, children of slaves, for whom it really is something to rejoice about.
Excellent gag, however, Taf.
Obama is a huge deal in so many ways — symbolic and substantive — but that’s not the only reason for the fervor. The second important factor is that we are finally getting rid of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and everything they stand for. What you’ve been watching in the US for the past few weeks is, in part, hundreds of millions of people singing, “Ding dong, the witch is dead …”
Wow, we agree again, Brendan–at least on the point of the celebration of Bush’s departure being wrapped up in the hoopla. Will wonders never cease?
The magical unity pony rides again!
In relation to the fervour surrounding these recent events, I suspect that one would have to look back to the days of Bill Clinton to witness this much excitement in Japan over an American Presidential Erection.
(Sorry - it’s taken me over 40 minutes to work out how to cram that joke into this somehow and is clearly heavily inspired by the Blog’s current tag line)
Well, 24 hours have passed, and I must say, I feel very let-down by so-called President Obama. The world appears to be resoundingly unsaved. What’s more, Richard Littlejohn likes him, placing him amongst a small and select group of politicians including Robert Kilroy-Silk and Nick Griffin. I want Bush back; at least he meant that The Daily Show was usually quite funny.
I kid you not: Very Serious Twits on TV have been saying, for weeks now, “Is it too soon to ask if the Obama Administration has failed?”