Sunday, February 24, 2008

Oh, Fer Chrissakes



Last night on Saturday Night Live, cast member Fred Arneson created a really funny impersonation of Barack Obama.
In the skit, he used Obama's staccato style of oration and his slightly jerky movements while talking to CNN-style reporters.
Between remarks, the camera would pan to the reporters who were swooning in rapture and raving about Obama's general brilliance.
It was pretty funny to see that I'm not the only one who's noticed the media sucking up to Obama like he's the second coming of Christ.
At the end of the show, guest host Tina Fey said something about it not being too late to still vote for Hillary in the Texas and Ohio primaries.
This morning on my daily blog reading rounds, I came upon a piece about last night's SNL show on the Huffington Post. The piece discussed Fred Arneson creating the Obama character for the show.
The comments were hilariously pissy.
I have decided that Obama's youthful fans are exactly like Clay Aiken's Claymates. They defend him and fight anyone who offers even mild criticism. They may not know much, but they are 100 percent certain that their idol is perfectly perfect.
I'm not talking about Obama fans who understand politics and find him appealing, so don't anyone get their mature panties in a wad.
I'm talking about the under-30 set who have looked up from their Guitar Hero and text messaging long enough to discover politics for the first time.
These tykes don't know why they support Obama, they just know that if anyone is cool enough to catch their very cool attention, he must be something totally, like, special, ya know?
They seem to think anyone who supports Hillary is (choose as many as you like) old, elite, rich, ignorant, fucked-up, out of it, ultra conservative, racist, fundamentalist Christian, right-wing, passe, geriatric, Bush-loving, insane, retarded, comatose, warmongering, lobby-loving, irrelevant, loser.
They did not hesitate to excoriate anyone who did not share their ardor for their candidate.
I usually don't fight back in the comments section when it comes to debating the virtues of two perfectly good candidates, but a few of these damp behind the ears whippersnappers needed a good old fashioned ass kicking, so I obliged.

For me, in a sense Obama is like Jesus.
I have no problem with him, but more than a few of his followers take things too far and make assumptions that anyone who has failed to see The Light is somehow morally and intellectually deficient.
I dare say, these same young zealots could not identify George McGovern, define what the letters ERA stand for, understand what the initial conflict was about in Vietnam, identify Bella Abzug or Barbara Jordan in photos, or discuss the Watergate scandal with any degree of detail.
Political ignorance, when combined with youthful idolatry and political gullibility, make for very poor spokespeople for any candidate.
Obama is a good candidate. Hillary is a good candidate. I will support either.
But, I must repeat: Unless these silly Claymates plan to vote for McCain if their American Idol fails to get the Democratic nomination, they'd serve Obama a lot better if they shut the fuck up, listened more and learned something.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think Obama's the mesiah, but I think he personifies the Gen X'ers take over. As a boomer, I thoroughly enjoyed drugs, sex and rock n roll. I had my day in the sun and I'm still enjoying the warm glow of the late afternoon sun. But just as the WWII bunch had their day and their FDR, boomers had their day and their JFK and Bobby.

It may be time for the next bunch, whatever we think of them, to take the helm and do whatever it is they have to do to salvage the shitty world we've left them. If they think Obama is their salvation, be grateful, because it could have been Huckabee or Thompson. Obama's a Democrat and if he gets the nomination I'll back him up regardless of who he copies or how he speaks. I'd love it if Hillary becomes Prez, but as long as a D wins, that's enough already with the hating. Unless of course its McCain bashing, then I'm on board.

bigsis

Anonymous said...

Well, you do have a point.
But I still say these Gen Xers can't handle their drugs, sex or rock n' roll.

dguzman said...

I too see the influence of the Gen X/Gen Y vote in the Obama momentum. I don't want to sound like an old "get offa my lawn" crazy lady, but I've always attached the word "jerk-offs" when I've uttered anything about Gen X or Gen Y (jerk-off) people. They're a bunch of spoiled brats who have no clue about history but think they know everything because they can google it.

Anonymous said...

...what she said.