State of the Union 2008
January 28, 2008
Driving to work this morning, I listened to a bit on NPR about two previous final State of the Union addresses. The host was interviewing the speech writers responsible for the final addresses by presidents Reagan and Clinton. Reagan was a thematic president, the one contended. Clinton was less so, went the story. They agreed that SotU addresses are boring, clunky laundry lists, they agreed that a president in his last year of his final term may not have nearly as much trouble capturing the audience’s attention as one might expect. They agreed about everything.
In the wistful peace of these previous opponents’ agreement, a space opened up. A creative space, wherein I heard the faint rumblings of GWB’s speech this evening. It was filled with the usual assortment of malapropisms – bungled compound sentences, clearly misunderstood and misused euphemisms, and mispronunciations of everything from “nuclear” to “mom.” He couldn’t decide if the economy was strawng or strugglin’. He urged us, when considering the recession, deficits, debts, wars, education and production losses, etc, to “try to keep yer prospective,” because ya never know – things could get better. …”they usually do, right?” He turned around and asked Cheney, “How’m I doin’ Dick?”
By the time the NPR spot had ended, I was in stitches. I had thoroughly amused myself with a tiny internal satire which reality will, I fear, closely resemble. I thought of Will Ferrell’s parodies of our fearless commander in chief. They’re so close to reality.
Stay tuned for tonight’s “big event.” And in the meantime, enjoy the Ferrell parody on global warming found at the link below. It’s wicked good. Just like nucyular energies.
Don’t look now, you’re being redirected.
September 13, 2007
How much Amazon.com stock does Southwest Airlines or CNN hold, anyway?
Though I’m loathe to admit it, I found myself looking up the term, “halter-style dress” today while reading a CNN.com story on Southwest Airlines recent altercations with two different women who were admonished to cover up before boarding flights run by the carrier. Apparently, Southwest’s “The Love Airline” image is shifting from its hippie 1970’s incarnation to a version updated to fit the times. Huh?
At first blush, I thought less of Southwest. What business is it of theirs who wears what for a plane ride to wherever? I tried to imagine Greyhound imposing a dress code – de facto or written – and laughed. (Before you get upset with me, think for a minute about your last bus ride across country.) A plane is just public transportation, after all, even if the ticket to ride can run you some big bucks.
Or maybe, I thought, there’s a deep thought here regarding public appearance, social respect, and etiquette in a civil society. A cursory reading of the yahoo! message boards and CNN’s “sound off” module cleared up that misconception in a flash. It seems pretty self-evident that there’s always a push-and-pull between individual freedom and collective accommodation. Nothing new here. Just a couple of emblematic incidents whipping up the tiniest bit of public discussion.
No, I don’t think it’s about the debate, and I don’t think there’s anything insidious going on at Southwest (or at least if there is, it’s not being reported on CNN). But you can bet there’s something going on somewhere. Someone I respected once said, “Every time someone tells you to look up at the sky, he’s got his hand in your pocket.” Don’t look now, there’s a Southwest plane flying overhead.
