Taking a page from Liz’s book, who boldly strode forth to prove that we could in fact link television trivia to major political-type maneuverings, I’m gonna go ahead and stab out at politics.

And since Liz has been so nice as to target herself at the Republicans, I guess it falls to me to handle the Democrats, and their downright messianic candidate, Barack Obama.

I opened up my email today to find that a dear old friend (Mia, if you’re reading this, hope you and the hubby and the family are well!) had shipped off a video that she described as “too good not to send on”.  And indeed, it was too good not to send on and too good not to watch.  What she had sent me, you see, was a clip from the show that made the news cool to watch again–The Daily Show.

I like The Daily Show, because indeed, they’ve made the news palatable by making it actually funny to watch, and they also have this wonderful tendency to stick to the stories that “regular” news drops, which gives you a lot more perspective on a story.

And indeed, when the Daily Show starts presenting the Barack Obama story as “The Lion King, The Messiah, and The Son of A Goat Herder”, it gives you a lot of perspective.

I’m no Republican.  Frankly, I’m no Democrat either.  I haven’t cast a vote yet that didn’t involve me sighing at the ballot in the enclosed room and saying, all right, I guess she / he is the LESSER evil before jamming it in the slot feeling vaguely disgusted.  I believe very firmly in Mark Twain’s old saying that, if God had wanted man to vote, He would have provided candidates.

But after the last eight years, which were like some rolling practical joke on the entire planet because somebody managed to put a leering fratboy whose greatest mortal enemy was the pretzel into the White House, it was clear that the 2008 election was going to MEAN something.  And of course, our choices were crap.  We had the potential to put a brand NEW dynasty in the White House by electing frau Clinton, or we could turn around and put in a guy whose political leanings are about six inches to the right of Marxism, Barack Obama.  And indeed…we went with the guy.

And then, everyone started talking about Barack Obama, and more and more they began framing him in terms of the hope of our country.  This is probably where The Daily Show got its idea to frame him in the Lion King motif, because people are rapidly becoming convinced that Barack Obama is some kind of savior figure–the man who’s going to fix the myriad problems that George Dubya managed to bring on us.  Even the simplest and most nonsensical remarks from Barack Obama–like “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”–are received with wild and thunderous applause.

This guy is a politician.

Now that I’ve said that, and just cemented my candidacy for the Biggest Buzzkill 2008 award, we need to understand what that means.  He’s out for one purpose, and it’s not to save America.  It’s not to get you your job back that got shipped out to China.  It’s not to help you win that absolutely-no-chance discrimination lawsuit you filed when you got fired for being too fat or too ugly or too black or too female but your boss told you it was because you weren’t a “good fit” in the otherwise all white male office.  Barack Obama, by and large, does not know who YOU ARE.

Barack Obama wants to get elected President of the United States.

And chances are you’re going to do that by attaching a whole lot of false hope to this guy who really, in the grand scheme of things, doesn’t have that much power.  Despite the massive power grab that George Dubya spent years going after, the President makes no laws–he only recommends.  The President fights no wars–he needs the approval of Congress.  The President makes no real decisions–he only approves the decisions of others.

I’m sorry your buzz is now thoroughly stomped on, but it’s a bit of–once again–perspective that you probably needed.

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