"There's a party in my mind...And it never stops."
-David Byrne
Pops came by last night for my little dinner. On his way here, he called and asked that I use my high-falutin' technology to record Obama's speech. Channel 2? Nope. Channel 4? Nope. Channel 7 had it, it was pre-empting a game show. So now I have the speech in which Obama claims the Democratic nomination on my new DVR under the title Jeopardy!. Life is not without its little ironies.
Indulging Pops again and sitting through the damnable speech was a trying experience. If my belly wasn't full of lobster ravioli and spinach salad, I wouldn't have been able to stand it. Like no other politician I have bothered to listen to, Obama sounds more and more like an empty suit. The real him doesn't come out, and if that's the real him, he's changed. Perhaps it was just last night, but damn. He looked exactly like a poseur.
Speaking of ironies, immediately before I switched to the speech, I was watching Koyaanisqatsi, the classic film that shows people as dehumanized units moving through the modern urban maze representing life out of balance. I was thinking at the time that if you want to make people's lives look insipid, you merely speed up the recording. If you want to make people's lives look dramatic and meaningful, you put them in slow motion. Nobody does the latter better than NFL Films. As I squirmed on the couch all I wanted to do was fast forward through Obama and his throng. In fact, I think I'll do it later today before I erase it, just for the satisfaction.
Pops thinks McCain is an idiot. Pops has a visceral hatred of Hillary Clinton. I had to hurry him out the door. Why does politics make people so emotionally retarded? It's a theme to which I will return.
For what it's worth, I've been thinking that an Obama presidency might give blackfolks some emotional satisfaction that America is OK. In fact, Pops actually did his own Michelle Obama moment right in my living room, saying that he is at last proud of America. Damn. I suppose such is to be expected from a 72 year old black man who was actually arrested for dating a white girl back in the day. Some injuries are never healed. But I'm not taking any comfort in the satisfaction of conditionally patriotic blackfolks. You can be sure that an Obama presidency will be credited to that minority, just as certainly Bush's slim majorities were credited to the Christian Right another loud minority whose hubris is execrable.
The black moment brings to mind the strange feeling I had many years ago on Bermuda. The same sort of electricity surrounding Obama was buzzing loudly upon the anticipated release of Spike Lee's 'X'. All you had to do was wear the hat. The iconic billboard signs were everywhere, a huge white X on a black background. That day on the island I looked towards the harbor and the largest X I had ever seen was taking up several degrees of sky on what appeared to be a huge billboard. I puzzled for a long time. Why would Spike have a huge party here for it? I finally got to the dock and saw it was on the smokestack of a giant ocean liner. X is the symbol for Celebrity Cruises and had absolutely nothing to do with Malcolm X or the hopes and dreams of a million kids wearing ball caps on backwards. Symbols.
The incompetence of McClelland, Bush's nth Press Sec'y among what, six? reminds us how many also rans will accompany the next president whoever he will be. But for drinkers of koolaid won't care. Koolaid and dogfood. If I ever join a group blog to continue to talk about politics, that will be the perfect title. In the meantime, devotees and worshipers of their political idols hope and pray for electoral victory. There's a political party in their minds with red, white and blue baloons and bunting. I'm merely nauseous.
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