This is my last Super Bowl related post. One of the recurring themes of the commercials was the fact that men are very unhappy. There was a car commercial I think it was Dodge and we saw images of men and we could hear what was going on in their minds. They all seemed to be living quiet lives of desparation and the car would give them a chance at real joy. So having children, a significant other and a job in your life simply sucks the joy out of a man’s life but you can be happy with this car. That is really some negative thinking. You also had the man who had his spine removed and he was so sad because he actually liked shopping with his wife. Who are the people behind these commercials. Their bosses might need to put them on suicide watch because they view the world through a very joyless lens.
Yesterday as I watched Super Bowl I was struck by one of the Dorito commercials. To me it was disrepectful on two levels. First you have a man come into the home of a woman and leer at her as she leaves the room. Then there is her small son who slaps an adult. I get this was all done in humor, but there is something a little unsettling about a child striking an adult. We live in a society where if an adult hit a child in public he could possibly be arrested, but this is passed off as humor. We have seen the debut of the next “sassy black child”. Some probably will say lighten up, but too me this simply took the humor too far.
First of all while I am a fan of President Obama I do not want to hear him discussing policy of the day of the big game. Each network that host the Super Bowl uses it as an opportunity to hype all of their shows, and this was an opportunity for CBS to showcase Katie Couric at our expense. It is fine to interview the commander and chief but keep it light we came to have fun. The interview with Plaxico Burress was also somber but it was relevant. Burress was a participant in the Super Bowl two years ago and now he is a prison inmate so it was interesting to see him go from a celebrated athlete to a repentant prisoner. CBS Jim Brown also did a piece on the residents of the 9th Ward. When we listen to the New Orleans Cinderella story we would think the entire city has experienced a rebirth, but that is simply not true and I was glad to see the piece on the residents of the 9th Ward. That section of the city looks like Katrina was yesterday. So it was a good move to give them opportunity to talk about that part of the city and not just the remodeled Dome. All of these was important moments but it was a great game and I was happy to see the Saints win. So now they can say “Who Dat? Won That!”
Sarah Palin can bring a crowd to their feet. She has a dynamite smile and the ability to throw out the red meat to the faithful. Her charm is unmistakable, but what does she really want? Does she want to be president or does she simply want to be famous? Her rise to fame is similar to the contestants on American Idol. She was truly plucked from obscurity and put on the world stage. She demonstrated early on that she was ready for the bright lights because she came with a million one liners in her back pocket. She did not seem to like to do the “heavy lifting,” like studying and learning the intricacies of foreign policy, but she knew how to say “can I call you Joe.” As I watched her deliver her tea party address I was again struck by the fact that she continues to speak in one syllable generalities and that seems to be enough for those who love her, but do they forget the fact that she is a quitter? This is a woman who did not finish her term as governor and has continued her pursuit of the bright lights and the big bucks. She spoke to the tea party attendees last night, and she hit all of their hot buttons for the small price of $100,000. So many of them say Sarah is just like us that could not be farther from the truth. Palin is a reality star and that is an easy job, and she knows that being president as George Bush once said is “hard work”, and this is a woman that quit her job so one has to wonder does she really want to do any hard work?
Sarah Palin addressed the Tea Party Convention last night and as usual she criticized President Obama and his use of the teleprompter, but when she sat down to answer the pre-approved questions in the Q & A portion of the event it looks like she sought answers from the palm of her hand. You be the judge, but from where I am sitting this does not look good for someone with such high aspirations.
NFL Network personality and former professional player Warren Sapp was arrested in Miami on domestic violence charges. He allegedly physically removed his girlfriend from his hotel room. She had visible marks around her neck and other bruises. Sapp’s explanation was he wanted her out of his room because he was going to have company. Sapp was subsequently arrested and he will not be appearing on the NFL Network Super Bowl coverage. If the charges are proven to be true Sapp is just the latest in a number of high profile people accused or convicted of domestic violence. At this point Sapp is innocent until proven guilty. Charlie Sheen was charged with domestic abuse back in December and he has been able to resume his career while he awaits adjudication. That always struck me as unfair. Sheen is star of one of CBS most popular sitcoms and there was never any thought given to suspension of the show pending the trial, but Sapp will not be that lucky today. He will be sidelined and rightfully so. My only question is why don’t all high profile people receive the same treatment?
A faction of the Tea Party Movement held a convention in Nashville over the past 2 days. There were only 600 people in attendance, but you would think thousands attended by the amount of media coverage the event garnered. Tonight there were 1100 people at the dinner and Sarah Palin did not disappoint the faithful. She declared that she was proud to be an American, and then she asked them if they loved their freedom. She went on to give a “shout out to Scott Brown” and then she did something that was vintage Palin. She cleverly weaved his victory to their efforts. By the time she finished you would have thought Brown ran as a Tea Party candidate. Palin might not be the most articulate speaker, but she is a smooth operator. She knows how to work a crowd and she knows how to spin a tale. She asked the crowd “how’s that hopey changey thing working out for ya?” Keep in mind this is a woman speaking who has eyes on the presidency. Her charisma is undeniable, but so is her lack of intellectual depth, but to this crowd that did not seem to matter. Palin peddles a form of paranoid politics that this crowd loves, and she will continue to do this as she pursues her goal of being the next resident of the White House.
Over the past few weeks we have seen powerful people who have been involved in high impact elections tell astounding stories about the candidates they once served. Steve Schmidt former McCain loyalist appeared on 60 Minutes and said that Sarah palin was woefully unprepared to be the vice president. This is even more astounding in light of the fact that he is the one that championed her candidacy to John McCain, but throughout the campaign the team kept saying she would be ready to serve on day one. John Edwards the champion of the poor was also a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He “knocked boots” with Rielle Hunter, and when she became pregnant he talked a married aide into claiming paternity. That former aide Andrew Young is currently peddling his story in his tell all book, The Politician. In both situations the staff knew all the secrets, but nobody talked until they were paid to share their stories. I know loyalty is essential in a campaign, but when does loyalty cross the line into fraud? It seems like this is a real disservice to the voters, but who really cares about the voters?
Former Republican Representative Tom Tancredo addressed the tea party convention with an offensive speech in which he said the president was elected by “people who could not even spell the word vote or say it in English”. He went on to say this happened because “we do not have a civics literacy test before people can vote in this country, (and they) put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House, his name is Barack Hussein Obama.” When someone suggests a literacy test one can not help but think about the repressive Jim Crow segregation laws. These laws were designed to deny black people justice in the south. Black people were forced to take literacy tests when they attempted to register to vote. The irony in some situations is the people that were administering the test could not have passed the test. So to see someone wax poetic about a literacy test is simply chilling. He went on to encourage the attendees to take their country back. In America we do have the freedom of speech and today Tancredo exercised his, and now I will exercise mine, and what he said today was racist and vile and it was met by cheers. So my take away is his opinion is shared by the people in attendence and that is sad.
Last month Vanity Fair featured a very menacing Tiger Woods on the cover. This month they went in another direction. They feature up and coming actresses in Hollywood, but they all have something in common besides talent. They are all white. This is especially egregious in light of some of the astounding performances of people of color. Gabourey Sidibe comes to mind. She is the star of the much acclaimed movie Precious. She has been featured on the cover of Ebony, and she was also interviewed by Newsweek for their anuual roundtable of possible Academy Award nominees. She is in fact now a nominee. There is also MoNique she too turned in a stellar performance, but they simply did not fit the profile or the weight limit. Talent obviously was not the governing factor in selecting the starlets. Freida Pinto of Slumdog Millionaire might have made the weight restriction, but while they all are talented there was simply a factor they could not overcome. They were all too dark to be considered a star.
