Tuesday, January 20, 2009

No Escape From D.C.

Even the Australian Open broadcast won't stop talking about the Obama inauguration, in the most reflexively slobbering tones imaginable.

It's all kind of confusing: 46 percent of the country voted against Obama. You would think that people in business might want to avoid potentially antagonizing such a big chunk of consumers.

Apparently not.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's because all right- thinking people (And what corporate CEO or ad executive doesn't think of himself as a right- thinking person?) see those 46% that voted against Obama as eeeeeeevil sub- human racists before they think of them as potential customers.

Gawd, I'll be glad when today is over. All of this Obama deification is making me want to vomit. I was walking through Wal- Mart yesterday and they had a big bolt of cloth hanging up in the crafts section covered with red white and blue images of "The One." Who in their right mind wants to make a quilt with the face of any POTUS on it?

The soul crushing disappointment among his disciples when Obama turns out to be no better (or worse) than any other POTUS will be truly awesome to behold. Exit question: Does the black velvet painting of Obama get added to the black velvet Trinity of Malcolm X, MLK, Jr., and Black Jesus in African- American homes or does Obama's image replace one of them? What's the correct etiquette?

Anonymous said...

For what it is worth, polls today indicate that over 80% of the country has a favorable opinion of him including a near majority of Republicans. Maybe if you set aside your personal animus you would see larger picture?

SWF

Mark said...

Clinton bugged me. That guy was genuinely unpopular, more so than Dubya, if you counted up the popular vote. But Obama is hard to hate - 54% isn't quite a blow out, but it is a sign of popular approval. Vox populi, vox dei, or something like that.

Anonymous said...

Between my ire at the Republicans for their part in the 8 skillion dollar bailout and a 'they won, they get a party' attitude, I really don't care. And I haven't voted for a Democrat in 15 years.

Anonymous said...

@ Anonymous 6:04 PM

Bush had a 90%+ approval rating after 9/11. Nobody was making quilts of him or painting him naked on a unicorn.

The longer the Obama cult of personality rages on, with all the dipshit celebrities pledging their fealty, the crass mass marketing, and shameless emoting from the Fourth Estate, the more creeped out I get.

Anonymous said...

It is strange. Obama is likable, I guess. But he's not much more congenial than Bush (and much more thin-skinned and too easily impressed with himself), and shows few signs of changing many major policies. And his family seems nice enough too.

But the fawning is really ridiculous and over the top. Suddenly it's the 50s and everyone is so patriotic. I guess some might like the idea of our president actually being respected and admired. But come on - isnt there a happy mean between throwing virtual shoes at the guy and declaring him the personification of gravitas, smart sophistication and his wife classier than Jackie O, when really nothing significant has changed?

But I guess, when you think about it, neighborhood does start with neighbor, and what you build is more important than what you destroy. Such rhetoric will surely embiggen us all.

Anonymous said...

Oh, only if we are willing to unclench our fists and extend our hands. There is nothing tired or obvious about that at all.

Anonymous said...

If you think it's bad from corporate America, have you seen the Arizona Cardinals' take-off on the Obama image? That's right, the *Arizona* Cardinals, as in "John McCain is the Senator from Arizona."

http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/20/after-this-im-looking-forward-to-the-super-bowl-hype/

I'm sorry, but that image is hilarious on so many levels.

-- MattM

Ralphie said...

I don't blame Obama, but I also am sick of the commercialism of it all - the tshirts, buttons, etc.

And even worse are the comments I've been hearing around the office (and on facebook) about how people feel patriotic once again. Yo: if you are patriotic only when your man is in the White House, then guess what? You're not patriotic.

Anonymous said...

"Oh, only if we are willing to unclench our fists and extend our hands. There is nothing tired or obvious about that at all."

Geeze. I wish all the people saying trite things like this today had actually lived to this type of philosophy for the past 8 years. I, for one, will give the Obama administration exactly as much support and credibility as the left gave to the Bush administration for the last 8 years.

I'm not sure why those on the left believe all of a sudden that we should all "get behind" and "support" this president, when they adamantly refused to do the same when the other side was in office.

Anonymous said...

as to polls showing an 80% favorable rating right now, sure - he seems likable enough and has not yet done anything to say we dislike him or disagree with him. The idea that that current 80% translates in to support for his policies is incredibly disingenuous.

Further, the current polls demonstrate that republicans are adults and don't hate Obama just b/c he won the election and beat our side.

Most presidents get high favorability when they are first sworn in and before they have made any actual governing decisions.

I think recent history would inform you that 80% favorability polls only last until the first decision that people disagree with. If Obama travels the middle of the road, like Clinton mostly did, he will maintain decent approval ratings. If he moves sharply to the left, his ratings will likely drop as the 1/2 of the electorate that does not agree at all with those policies voice their disapproval.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:59: I'm with you. I was being snarky. That was a line from the inauguration/campaign speech.
- Anon 2:04