Bored Already

When Obama was duking it out against Hillary in the Texas primary, my husand and I took Mr. M with us when we caucused for Obama. And we've always had Democratic signs sprinkled in our yard during elections. So Mr. M's reaction to Obama's victory was no surprise. When he came into the kitchen this morning asking who won and I told him Obama, Mr. M punched a fist in the air and yelled, "Cool!"
A few pauses later he said, "Oh. But I guess that's sort of bad for you because you'll have to pay more taxes." Yes, I agreed, probably so. And then Mr. M asked, "Mom, do homeless people have to pay taxes?" No, I assured him. They certainly do not. "Cool!" he again exclaimed. "Mom, you know we can always go homeless." Ah, the comforts of childhood.
This election has consumed me. Now that it's over, I've got nothing to dwell on, nothing to get me so riled up I make extreme political statements on my blog and drive away my growing mass (ha!) of blog readers. The NYT called me today and said they're pulling their ads. Said they saw it coming. It's true. I'm at a loss for emotions, a loss for words. When Chris Matthews calls Howard Dean a modern-day John-the-Baptist, how can you even begin to compete?
You'll get no argument from me, NYT. Yes, indeed I showed a complete lack of restraint when I put up "political" posts. But I just can't help myself. I've never been a "don't talk, don't tell" person when it comes to sex, religion or politics, and I never will be. Otherwise I'd be left with only weather and Butterick patterns to talk about; should that ever happen, God take me now.
But who could not be transfixed by the epic struggle of David and Goliath, in a modern political pageant played out by Obama and Hillary? Who was not captivated, did not wake up transfixed, in a morbid hypnotic trance while McCain's plane tanked in tandem with the economy? Yes, it was shameless political rubber-necking by all of us, to be sure. But I have no shame in admitting this.
Today I thought there might be some interesting post-mortems on the McCain campaign and the Palin who undoubtedly (certainly many of McCain's staff agree) impaled him. Or a prominent article or two about something other than this election which is, after all, over. Perhaps an article about the abominable Proposition 8 that passed in California, for instance. There were a few articles, yes, if you went hunting. But they were awfully hard to find.
Every day I try to scan the 20 most emailed articles from the New York Times and the Washington Post because the articles are usually excellent and varied. When I went to the WP list today, though, here's what I got:
* New Era for America
* Around the World, Praise for Obama
* President Obama
* Senator Barack Obama's Acceptance Speech
* Copies of Washington Post Sell Swiftly After Obama Win
* Full Speech: Obama Wins Presidency
* U Street Jubilation
* Hail to the Chief
* America's History Gives Way to Its Future
* Measured Response to Financial Crisis Sealed the Election
* Emotional Day Ends in Jubilation for Some, Stoicism for Others
* Early Transition Decisions to Shape Presidency
* Highlights: Obama Victory Speech
* Obama Makes History
* Up in the Air [Re the coming commercial real estate crisis]
* Today We Can Boast
* A New Kind of Pride
* The Election that LBJ Won
* A Way Out of the Wilderness [for Republicans]
* The Decency of George Bush [Re George Bush]
Egads! Something new? Perish the thought. With few exceptions (the three articles with a bracketed synopsis), it was all Barry, all the time. It's NPR KBAM on my FM dial.
Normally I'd feel sorry for, even worried about, such a guy -- who has nowhere to go but down, he is perched so high. But in Obama's case? Naaah. The media is so propelled by a desire to legitimize its premature anointing of Obama (and its merciless bloodletting of Hillary) that it is willing to forego its usual fuel: elevating someone to an Empire State pedestal before taking a few swipes and toppling them, gloating while the victim crashes to the ground in a million little pieces, pulverized by the force of the fall.
We've seen it countless times. Perhaps this once, and only this once, the media will leave Obama alone. But it will not be out of any sense of decency.
And I am bored already. After an electric Iowa, followed by a knock-down-drag-drag-drag-out with Hillary, Obama's victory against McCain was anticlimactic. In saying this, I mean not to take anything away from Obama. His win is truly historic. My goosebumps are genuine. I do not genuflect. But it was just too foreseeable to leave me weeping and hysterical.
At this point even a sequel of "Heat" -- with Pacino and DeNiro and a shirtless Val Kilmer commandeering a Federal Reserve besieged by Al Queda -- would leave me yawning. An admitted adrenaline junkie, I'll need much stronger stuff after this cinematographic (word?) election.
The end-of-election doldrums have hit me hard, leaving me desolate and despondent. David Axelrod has vanished from view, just when I was getting over a HUGE crush on the guy. He is so damn smart, so damn smart -- that he is hot, hot, hot. And now he's gone. Gone gone gone. In a winter bleak, a mom-blogger's fancy must lightly turn to thoughts of fashion.
And so all night I psychoanalyzed the Obama family's decision to wear red and black. Was it meant to symbolize the red states Obama took from the GOP? Or instead a subconscious signal that Obama takes the blue states for granted (surely not)? Maybe there's no mystery at all, and red and black just happen to be their favorite colors (but that would be so boring)? Perhaps the red and black color choice was actually a foreign policy show of fashion-force, meant to put Russia's Medvedev on notice of something, in a sort of secret presidential communique'.
Will Michelle wear Rodriguez again or be a designer-hopper? Will the new puppy Obama promised his girls adjust to the White House? Or might the puppy bring on the first and only Obama loss-of-cool the world will ever witness? On pins and needles I wonder whether Palin's costly campaign threads can ever be recouped on Ebay, given there are only four other women in the world who wear her size and bear her height? Will she even hand over the duds?
Told ya' I was bored.

Labels: Bored