Steele selected as RNC chairman; GOP street cred levels off the charts

The former Lt. Gov. of Maryland, Michael Steele, was selected as the RNC chairman after incumbent Mike Duncan folded under the weight of yet another slobber-knocking defeat across the nation by Democrats in 2008.

I have intentionally forgotten anything credible that this man has ever done, to better put myself in the mindset of other, less-politically inclined individuals, and maybe see how this looks from the outside looking in.

Casual Observer: Holy crap, is that guy black?

Why yes, yes he is.

The induction of the first African-American President is one thing, but the first African-American Republican Chairman? That's a horse of another color altogether.

But all of this hubbub is grounded in stereotypes: The stereotype that the GOP is dead in the water after these past two elections, which seems eerily similar to the 1994 surge that gave the Right its headwind through twelve years. The stereotype that the Republican party is not just old-fashioned, but down right racist. The stereotype that the GOP is stubbornly intolerant.

Maybe this is a knee-jerk reaction to the charge made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Thursday, saying this to his ranks and to the party at large:

“We’re all concerned about the fact that the very wealthy and the very poor, the most and least educated, and a majority of minority voters, seem to have more or less stopped paying attention to us,” McConnell said in a speech at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting. “And we should be concerned that, as a result of all this, the Republican Party seems to be slipping into a position of being more of a regional party than a national one.”

So maybe this was what the GOP thinks the doctor ordered. Let's appeal to the youngins, shake it up a bit, maybe put out a reality show on MTV or something, they'll say.

The nod to Steele neither refutes nor endorses any of these stereotypes.

The Left will hold this nomination under a heinous microscope, inevitably determining that this lot was cast as a mere political and shameful ploy, and doesn't reflect the true nature of the Evil Empire that is the Republican National Committee.

But one can't chastise a party for being allegedly deliberately exclusive against minorities and then accuse the party of added racism once they might be trying to branch out to more diverse grounds. This may be a move to rectify some of the stereotypes that have frankly been giving the party a black-eye for years. Can you begrudge them that immediately, without evidence?

And the Right will hold Michael Steele up to the Left like some sort of membership card into the "We're Not Racist" Club. As I said earlier, McConnell's words were not to just to the committee, but to the party at large. The message here is to dust off the old train of thought and begin a more encompassing train of thought.

Steele may be the lightening rod to spark the movement, but in order for McConnell's message to be effective, it must reverberate through the base, not just the heads of the party.

But of course, we're supposed to be viewing this from the eyes of a casual observer, detached from regular political thoughts and discourse. It's the same verse.

Holy crap, is that guy really black?

Limbaugh vs. Obama Leaves Little For the Imagination

So there's been a dust up in the wee-hours of President Barack Obama's four-to-eight year tenure in the Executive branch, though not between legislators, as he has sufficient ammunition in both the House and the Senate.

It's between Obama and Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talking head of radio and early 90's lore.

Apparently on Rush's program, while lamenting the $825 kajillion stimulus that irks most conservatives, he went so far as to say that not only does he hope the stimulus package fails, but that he wants Obama himself to fail.

"My response? My response is only four words," Limbaugh spouted. "I want him to fail."

When the President began addressing a collection of House Republicans — who unanimously voted against the package — Obama quipped, "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done."

That'll show 'em.

Now the media is really charging this thing up to make it a much-ballyhooed heavyweight slug match between the forces of the Right and the Left. Maybe it's because there's no one left in active governance who can pose a formidable challenge to Obama and his Leftward Legion. Maybe it's because Rush is just that type of explosive personality who will generate discourse and viewership.

Maybe there just hasn't been a decent heavyweight boxing match in years, a decline possibly brought on by the advent of UFC cage fighting or perhaps the growing gargantuan and therefore sluggish size of current heavyweight boxers. Why does Radio Shack ask for your phone number when you buy batteries?

I don't know. But I digress.

There are not only problems with the fight, but a fundamental flaw in the fight to begin with. It's a real cart-before-the-horse thing, only now the carriage is flying at about 88 miles per hour. And there's plenty of blame to go around on both sides.

First off, for the Rushians (MOTHERLAND!!!). What the hell, man. This was just a stupid thing to say. Limbaugh is a very influential person. I'll even take that further; he's really, genuinely funny. He often makes great points, and was a bludgeon for the Newtonians who took charge of the Legislature in 1994.

But the stimulus package is about more than just President Obama. The President of the United States has thrown all of his chips in on this economic package for the good of the American people. This is not an endorsement of that plan; I think it does lack a certain rigidity you'd expect when throwing skyscrapers full of money at a problem. But this is the apparent way we're going to go, or at least something like it, as even the GOP's idea still throws billions and billions and billions of dollars at the problem.

But the result is serious, either way. American well-beings hang in the balance, and to call for this plan, for the Presidency to fail is bush-league. Vote against him, call for others to vote against him, do everything you can to bend the powers-that-be to what you may have rationally concluded is the best course of action. But to hope that Obama fails?

Had Matthews or Olbermann called for Bush to fail in Iraq, although a depression isn't as serious as war, Limbaugh would have been up in arms. Both deal in livelihoods.

But then Obama had to give this guy a credible voice. In my line of journalism, I've run across a number of constructive criticisms and vicious complaints, often an indistinguishable line. The best course of action to malevolent complaints and fits of irrational ill-will is to ignore completely. Just walk away; they're only words after all.

Then the usually tame and inclusive Obama sent a divisive cheap shot to the capable faculties of House Republicans. No one wants to be told they aren't thinking for themselves, or that they're being manipulated by a larger puppeteer. It's quite a shot to the ego, especially if the puppeteer is a radio talk show host. And let's face it — the Legislature isn't filibuster proof. If Obama really wants to be bipartisan, which I believe he honestly does, such remarks aren't warranted, and only give credibility where it is apparent credibility is undue.

So now this thing is a big talking point mess, which is to say a mess of BS. Media hither and yon are really talking up this brouhaha, ad naseum and ad barf-eum. But the end result cancels out; Rush will spew whatever is on his mind (be it his own thought or his own need to simply grab attention), Obama will slip up and get divisive, but only every once in awhile, and the stimulus package will either work or it wont, regardless of what anyone has to editorialize about it.

The two cancel out each other. End result: Nothing much. Kinda makes you wonder what the last 62 column inches were all about in the first place.

BlagOusted: To Pick Up Office Belongings Later, Has No Friends

"So yeah, I'm just going to go ahead and get out of here, there is a back door, right?...Yeah, Terry, just put all that stuff in one of those paper crates and ship 'em to the Misses." - Rod the Retahd Blagojevich

Impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich was removed from office forcibly and violently today in a spectacle that many called "The Most Terrific and Vicious Physical Beating of All-Mankind."

Blagojevich rambled incoherently for an hour and a half prior to the beating. He then was informed that he had absolutely no friends whatsoever, being ousted 59 - 0, with constituents' taunting emails and text messages being scrolled across a projected screen.

Blagojevich was left to get the remaining Far Side desk calenders and paperweights from his office at a later date, and then was pumbled by Chicago gangsters "Moose" and "Rocco."

How Do We Un-Do Technology

There's an old adage that once somebody gets something for free, you'll never be able to force them to pay for it.

This was true for the music industry, but they've seemed to manage with the advent of song-by-song purchasing through iTunes and the like.

This is the problem for the current news media, specifically those in the antiquated print-media field. You know, newspapers, periodicals, scrolls. All that jazz.

Information is just floating around like all sorts of dust in the wind, leaves in the breeze, twigs in the stream or whatever simile you prefer to reflect an object being swept away by a force it cannot control, like information and the Information Super Highway.

But mixed in with all of those dust, leaf, and twig bits of information floating around there is a plethora of information — I guess one might call it "information," although I don't find it informative or worthwhile — that makes no sense or use. And it's the 24-hour, seven days a week, 52 weeks yearly feeding frenzy that has sprouted up since all of this "information" has become readily available at the click of a mouse.

There are some things that just don't matter.

Take this New York Daily News headline that ran today, oh-so-cleverly titled "Hey Bam, that's not the door!" In short, it outlines the remarkable turn of events that took place outside the White House as Barack Obama, newly sworn-in President and resident of the aformentioned mansion, happened to think a window with the exact same glass panes as the door near that window was in fact the door itself.

"Harf! Harf! Harf! Harf! Harf! Get a load of the moe-ron! Ahuck! Ahuck! This Obama guy ain't to smart neither," bellows anybody who thinks this is laughable or even noteworthy.

Barack Obama is the new-age president who uses the technological advances of such internet pheonomenon as social-networking tools, like Facebook, but he isn't the first to be under the watchful eye of the Big Brother Media that will watch his every move like a hawk.

Bush had a similar experience. or I should say, experiences. The round-the-clock ridicule was unprescedented, albeit W didn't help himself, often fueling the fire with a number of memorable photo ops. But you have to admit, perhaps his image wouldn't be so marred with accusations of possible retardation were the cameras and the microphones not on him at every-single waking and otherwise moment, tuned loud enough for even the most remote and disconnected villages of Africa to hear.

My point is this: Who cares? I mean really, who on God's green Earth cares?

Obama isn't a moron who can't tell the difference between a window and a door. Bush, along with everyone else in the world, has tugged on a locked door. I wish I had a flux capacitor to go back and get rid of all of these little round-the-clock-crap flingers. But alas; people demand it. And get it for free.

But I find it remarkable that when real news happens — say, the first African-American President takes the Oath of Office — they all tend to say the same thing.

But who says it better? That's the question. And no, slap-stick guffaws don't count as quality journalism.

CelebRighties?! Omigah!

Normally — and I don't think this piece is an exception — I loathe celebrity news.

I mean I really hate it. Down to my very core. The Hollywood Gossip Mill does nothing for me. I don't care if Jennifer Aniston screws a beagle and that beagle learns to talk and spills the beans on what REALLY happened in the Pitt/Aniston household. It doesn't matter. She's hot and my shameful insecurities will not allow me to elaborate on the aesthetic qualities of Brad Pitt, but I hear he's quite the looker.

But I found this link, sent to me by our UFW Agent in Washington (UFWAW), to be of a higher caliber than just mere celebrity hogwash, and it actually relates to a book-topic I'll be proposing in the Spring (more on that story as it develops and surely dies a terrible, embarrassing death). The topic is the impact of entertainers (comedians, specifically) on the objectivity — or lack thereof — in contemporary media.

Naturally, the exception rather than the rule would be the ever-rare Conservative Celebrity. This article shows (and apparently updates) a wide array of conservative celebrities; some who you might expect and others you may just be baffled by.

Now these excerpts under the monikers don't distinguish between conservative and Republican, although many might object to that misnomer, but for these exercises, I think the point remains valid; conservative or GOP-advocate, the headliners are few and far between. Further dissection is prudent:

Expected Honkies

Now, you can expect there to be some people on this list. If the stereotype "All conservatives care about are rich people," is fulfilled, then certainly many of these celebrities would fall under the category. But there are a few names that don't shock anyone.

Clint Eastwood and Charlton Heston spearhead this Light Brigade. Heston was the face of the NRA, and still is even from the grave, and amid rumors of Eastwood perhaps going soft on the Left, he put out Gran Torino, which is Eastwood going righteous on some Asian-American gangsters with a slew of racial epithets that I didn't even know existed.

You've also got your high-brow honkies like Kelsey Grammer and Ben Stein, who add a hint of sophistication, and in the case of Grammer, a dizzying level of obscurity. Ben Stein is actually very popular in most circles, except for scientists, of course.

Then there's the garrulous Dennis Miller and the horn-rimmed Price is Right host Drew Carey. And one can't forget the washed up Italian folks, Tony Danza and Scott Baio.

One can also assume the entirety of the country music genre, because to do otherwise is career suicide. RE: Dixie Chicks. Enough said, although I will add that there was a collective sigh of relief from mainstream Americans everywhere, giving them the final reason to never want to listen to the Dixie Chicks ever again. Super-honky and Left Behind actor Kirk Cameron also goes on this list of people nobody cares about, but for actors.

But no one was surprised by these names on the list. The next few names are a few from the list, but just a few of the more noteworthy names.

Hurts the Program

These are a few names that maybe the GOP could stand to do without.

Kid Rock - Now the excerpt only says that Kid Rock is a registered Republican, but I think it's safe to say that this guy fits the trampled-upon Republican mold of Ignorant-Racist-Votes-for-Whitey. Everything this guy has touched is destroyed violently, just look at Vanilla Ice, who Rock emulated in his early days. The Right would do well to steer clear of this wife-beater-wearing collection of hair grease and ambiguously vulgar tats.

Jessica Simpson - Remember that bit about "everything they touch is destroyed violently?" Ditto on this lady. As fabulous as she was in the dialogue-limited role of Daisy Dukes in the Dukes of Hazzard re-barf, as well as subsequent Direct TV ads, but since then, nothing remarkable other than apparent weight-gain and the ruining of a Super Bowl-caliber squad of gentlemen known as the Dallas Cowboys. George W. Bush approves based on her ability to raise his relative rank in total GOP intelligence. Britney Spears also falls under this White-Trash-Bash scattegory.

Mel Gibson - Just in case racism isn't a big enough stigma in the Republican ranks, just to round the bases and even everything out, they grab a guy who hates Jews! Score! Braveheart did rule though.

Meatloaf - This one is a toss-up. Depending on which decade you're looking at, Meatloaf could be a beast of burden or a welcome guest to your party. My proclivities toward the movie Fight Club and the song "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)" prohibit me from completely throwing the Loaf under the bus. But those cell phone commercials suck.

Helps the Program

Now these are guys you want on your side, and the GOP is thankful for their presence, while they may not like their music.

Karl Malone - Color me confused on this one, but hey, nobody's going to turn down the Mailman. I might chalk this up to a Charles-Barkely-esque move, where he goes Republican in step with wanting to protect his dozens and dozens of dollars. However, it cannot be said that Malone is Barkley-crazy. To do so would be folly, to borrow a line.

James Earl Jones - Darth Vader! You can't get any darker than the Dark Lord of the Sith, and he's an ardent Republican? Talk about the exception rather than the rule, and not in a racist way. Also, I don't mean to neglect Jones' sterling career in such films as The Sandlot, The Hunt for Red October, and The Lion King, but Star Wars trumps all.

LL Cool J - Not only did Cool James vote Republican, but he spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention. But sure you could kind of see it; the relatively clean-rap lyrics, the movies like S.W.A.T. where he positively portrays police officers, the MTV Unplugged appearence, it's not too broad of a jump, albeit an unexpected one. Not like...

50 Cent - Curtis? Jackson? While many on the Left may think "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" is indeed a Republican slogan, none could have imagined that it was in fact the slogan of a Republican. CBS' excerpt says it all. Fiddy claimed: "I actually like Bush. In some ways, I'm the George W. Bush of hip hop — nobody likes me but I'm still gonna run it for the next four years."

Now you may have noticed a trend in the first four members of this group. That's because there was one! Gold star for you. An Africa-American presence definitely helps the image of the GOP, and it's my belief that until they can garner genuine support in larger numbers from that community, it will continue to hemorrhage as it clearly did in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Just my two cents. Sorry Fiddy.

Adam Sandler also helps the program, but his loyalty is certainly in question after the absence of his boy Rudy Giuliani from the political arena.

Supplexes the Program

(over the roar of System of a Down's "B.Y.O.B." and Monster Trucks)
SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! Come one! Come all and prepare to be SLAMMED! by the line-up of professional WRESTLERS and professional FIGHTERS and professional SNAKE HANDLERS who are making all of their unlikeminded political opponents their biggity BIAHHHH! Sponsored by Red Bull (TM), Mt. Dew (c), and nubitty-nine-oh-two, THE SCOURGE, your source for hit death metal music!

And kids seats are still just FIVE BUCKS!!!

The Rock - Someone with a name like Dwayne Johnson voting Republican is unremarkable at best. But The Rock going right is pretty nifty, not necessarily because the Rock was a wrestler, but because Johnson played football at Miami in So. Florida (ewww). I figured the U to harbor more of a liberal attitude while harboring their criminal minions. Even their classy athletes like Marvin Harrison can't go through a career without shooting someone at least once. I plead the fif.

Chuck Norris - Now this is a move that doesn't shock me one bit. Because if the mustache didn't give it away, the political stereotype will: Chuck Norris hates change. Norris was the only credible (?) supporter of former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's Presidential Run's infant days. Just a big enough splash to warrant a couple of round house kicks to the-... okay, enough with the Chuck Norris jokes. They've been done before. Over. And over. And over again.

Coach Mike Ditka - Who would win in a legal battle? Ditka or SENATOR DITKA? That's right, the Hercules of Hurt is a GOP'er and a zealot at that. Now for some serious political discourse: Ditka very nearly challenged then-challenger Barack Obama for the the vacant Senate seat in 2004, but chose not to run. As Ahnold showed us in 2004, celebrity does carry with it a certain level of clout, and it's not out of the question to say that Ditka might've won handily, leaving Barack Obama to his own devices. Ditka's decision actually affected the events that lead to the first African-American President. Did that blow your mind?

Promotes the Supplex of the Program

Don King - Thank you, God! The most spectacular, most splendiforous, most spectoutrageous fight promoter since Lucifer tempted Christ in the desert, Don King and Don King's hair are both registered Republicans. As UFWAW put it, "It is awesome; Don King and John McCain have two things in common. They are both republicans and both killed men in the 60s." UFWAW was likely guffawing with high-ranking Senators as this was being discussed (no, seriously, I didn't make this informant up).

I feel like this can't be true, Don King is just too high/dumb to know the difference between political parties. Or maybe he's just outsmarting everyone by brilliantly feigning mildly flamboyant retardation. Anyway, file this under the "I Don't Know What to Make of Such an Anomaly" category.

Saves the Program

WAYNE NEWTON!!!
OmigahOmigahOmigahOmigahOmigah!

Clinton Out-Quipped By a Bush

Okay. Even Senior Bush will admit it: His first and only term as President was a mere third term for President Reagan. Reagan was a political juggernaut; a man with virtually endless celebrity appeal, but who also actually seemed poised to do great things, such as tearing down a wall in Germany or ending a hostile political regime the U.S. had been quarreling with for decades.

Anyway, history has remembered Reagan and Bush as such.

But this latest act from G.H.W. Bush is pretty hilarious, especially granted the submissive context with which Bill Clinton — the man who dethroned Bush 1992 — places the scenario.

I can let the video speak for itself, save Wolf Blitzer's terrifying visage. But I found it remarkably entertaining.

There are certain things you can't say, Bill. Some people do have it and others don't, I just never thought you'd be the one to admittedly not have it.

Put this one in the record books. It may very well be the last time a Bush gets a good zinger in (with a Democratic concession) in...well, a very, very long time.

Or at least until G.W.H. Bush jumps out of a plane on his birthday, as per the family tradition.

Governor Retahd Digs a Deeper Grave

When I was about eight or nine years old, I decided it would be an awesome idea to try out a lot of my dad's power tools, namely the power drills, when the folks were out. I quietly absconded with the machinery into my bedroom and began drilling through anything and everything in my room. Toys, books, pillows; it was all gravy.

Then I decided to grow up a bit and get to some more productive drilling. That wall had to go. I drilled about ten holes in the drywall in between my room and my brother's room. Only after I had calmed down from my drilling frenzy did I think, Maybe...Just MAYBE this was a bad idea. I moved my dresser over the destructed wall but to no avail — Scotty the Body (aka Dad) found the destruction and questioned me immediately about my obvious transgressions.

I stood poised to create a whimsical and fantastical defense. I rose like Clarence Darrow, ready to weave some sort of intelligible alibi, likely impugning my little brother or our cross-eyed neighbor. As I opened my mouth, my Dad quickly cut me off and laid down some logic that to this day I believe to be true.

"Son, don't lie to me. We both know what you did. If you lie to me now, it's only going to get a lot worse. So just tell me the truth, and we can deal with it. But don't lie; you're only going to make it worse."

I learned two things that day: reckless drilling leads to sore backsides, and getting caught lying leads to much worse.

So you can see why I might be so frustrated at this ex-Gov. Rod The Retahd Blagojevich, not so much for his stupidity in the first place, but at his added stupidity with this media-rampage that is keeping the regular guests off The View. Just thinking about all of the sexy guests and rising stars that could have been on that show instead of some awkwardly-haired liar.

On a quick sidenote, there is something ungood about that guy's follicle arrangement. It's too thick to be declared fraudulent, yet far too shapely and too life-of-its-own-like to be considered mere hair. More on that as it develops, I suppose.

Anyway, the FBI has been tailing this guy for months for all sorts of differnt misgivings and errors, from extortion and laundering and abuse of power. So they're recording him. Then, they get something they can't just keep to themselves: he tries to sell President Obama's vacant seat in the Senate. They have tapes. They have records. They have transcripts.

FBI agents testified to this point today during Blago's impeachment trials. From the AP:

Again and again, agent Daniel Cain told state senators he had accurately quoted Blagojevich in a sworn affidavit filed when the governor was arrested last month on federal corruption charges. At each stage, House prosecutor David Ellis displayed the most damning quote on a poster board.

The affidavit quoted Blagojevich saying his power to name a replacement to Obama's vacant Senate seat was a "valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing." Ellis asked if that was accurate.

Yes, Cain replied.

Did he say, "I've got this thing and it's (expletive) golden, and uh, uh I'm just not giving it up for (expletive) nothing"?

Yes, Cain said.

Did he say, "I want to make money"?

Yes, Cain said.

The lawyer here obviously tracked his thoughts very carefully, so as not to be encumbered by any legal ambiguity. For the record, the FBI agent said Blago called the seat a "golden opportunity" that he wasn't going to "give away for forking nothing."

The hand is in the cookie jar. The holes have been drilled in the wall. Here's where you grin to yourself, then go before the media, resign, and wait it out until someone else messes up and you're quickly forgotten. You're politically out, but maybe after a grand jury hearing, some form of "punishment" or a slap on the proverbial wrist, and you're back out there, writing books and doing charity boxing matches against Danny Bonaduce.

But no. Rod the Retahd decides he's not going to give up anything he hasn't worked/stolen hard to make during his career, cut no losses, and run his name as far into the mantle of the earth as possible, never to be seen again.

The media blitz he is running isn't necessarily one of the more innovative of all time, but then again, Johnny Cochran has been gone for sometime.

He's using the Ole Out of Context bit, which is about as keen as the Ole Pull a Dollar by a String Gag, and the Ole I Got Your Nose Bit O' Sorcery.

"In the end, a lot of it was talk and exploring ideas," Blagojevich said. "I never, ever intended to violate any criminal law."

I can't wait for this guy to actually be prosecuted. Scotty the Body said it first: It's only going to get worse.

Blago will be selling a different seat in prison.

Obama's Celebrity

(Ed. Note: Sorry, I've been away for awhile. You see how busy you get when you're trying to get a grant to write a book. If you're still coming back to the blog every now and then, thanks, and know I'll be trying to update more frequently, even if that means very minor posts.)

Barack Obama was inaugurated last Tuesday in celebration of pageantry that is peerless throughout American history. The first African-American president was sure to have such a homecoming, but the added personality of our chief executive remarkably almost overshadows the monumental achievement.

In short, everyone loves Barack Obama and it's social suicide to reply to the contrary.

I'm of that ilk; I think Obama thus far has done nothing to lose my confidence that he will be a competent administrator of our national well-being. Now, being the right-leaning moderate that I am, I'm not thrilled about some of the rough drafts of this stimulus plan, namely some of the problems with ambiguous directions of the funds and the majority of the money being held until after 2010. I'd go on, but the New York Times' David Brooks pretty much sums it up here.

But most people are not concerned with his politics at all, an odd thing for not only a politician but the most powerful politician in the world. Caring about his politics is sooo November.

I don't see his economy-induced furrowed brow spread across People magazine. I don't see the stern face of a man who is inheriting, as some would describe, the worst set of conditions an incoming President has seen since a Roosevelt first took office.

You see a big eared, grinning, dapper individual, clung to by an equally charming, Hospital-administrating wife.

Obama is currently the biggest celebrity on the planet. If he so chose, he could advertise for any number of products, or campaigns and turn them into sure fire winners. He could host the upcoming Academy Awards. He could likely challenge Michael Jordan to a pick-up game and win. It's an uncharted measurement at this point to determine just how much home-court advantage might play, when home court is the White House.

Those are exaggerations of course, but the point is true: There's no one bigger than BHO, in Hollywood or elsewhere.

My point might be this: It's a slippery slope to keep regarding our new chief executive in the limelight most often reserved for celebrities.

On the one hand, it is nearly shameful to say that this President doesn't deserve every inch of press he gets. He has the potential to be a transformative president of unparalleled caliber, not only a reconciliartory beacon of hope for race relations in the United States but also a genuinely good President who can shape the nation up in a way in which it has not been in nearly six years.

He's no mere poster boy. Well, he doesn't have to be, anyway.

But we all know how these celebrity stories turn out: Tragically. It's the nature of the beast to build someone up only to laugh and delight at their downfall. It's all very Lifetime TV. You see it over and over and over again; a celebrity rises and a celebrity falls. The question is, does this star fall because of their own flaws, or are they driven by the fair-weather public who judges their every move?

I'm inclined to think toward the latter, but I offer forewarning: we had better stop anointing this new President of ours before we end up running him out of town on a rail.

So long as he follows up on the seemingly-impossible task of keeping his word and fixing every problem the nation has (which he has done a good job backtracking from, although I distinctly remember the words "This is the day the Earth began to heal," after defeating Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary), he should be the conductor of the Gravy Train with biscuit-capped wheels, and I'm all for that.

Let's just not get carried away. It would be bad for him, and us all as Americans.

(For the record, I'm not saying that I think Obama will fall prey the mania that apparently rots such celebrities, because I think he's better than that. But his public opinion on the other hand could sharply diminish, a la Lohan, Spears, etc. In South Park terms, from this to something like this. )