Monday, January 19, 2009

A little too much hype?

This is going to sound a little odd, but as Obama prepares to be sworn in as president some eight hours from now, I worry that the country is making too big a deal out of the inauguration. While the event is certainly historic and exciting, the media frenzy and commercialization surrounding the event seems a bit much.

When I attended Clinton's 2nd inauguration, it was a big deal in my life. That entire trip to DC/New York/Philadelphia as a 5th grader is still very fresh in my memory. The inauguration, however, is not one of the most memorable moments. Granted, 5th graders aren't usually terribly excited by speeches and can think of things more fun to do than standing around for hours in cold weather - but I'm glad I was there and would certainly appreciate it more were it today.

This time around, everyone seems to feel the needs to get in on the day. Every major TV station is not only covering the event live, but most have hours and hours of "pregame" where they'll undoubtedly repeat the same thing over ten times trying to fill airtime. It's a little early in the morning to be playing drinking games, but I'm sure you'd be well on your way if you simply drank every time you heard the word "historic" uttered. Yes this event will be historic. I hope Obama gives a moving speach tomorrow that will be remembered among the great presidential speeches. The problem is that history usually runs its own course on its own time, and in this case everyone is forcing this to be a part of history. It's still what it's always been - a swearing in, some formalities, and a parade, followed by DC letting its hair down for a night of partying. Don't spoil the moment by making too big a deal of it.

I'm extremely happy for the countless African Americans who have waited for this day their entire lives. I'm happy for every Obama supporter who finally gets to see an extremely long election process come to fruition. I'm happy for our new president. I could do without 14,000 hours of TV coverage for an hour long event. I laugh at the 2800 different Obama t-shirts and 288 bottles of Obama wine (even though it's from Oregon). I shake my head in disbelief at the Obamarella and Obama bedside lights.

Who knows, maybe the massive amount of money being spent in relation to the inauguration will accidently give the economy the kick in the pants it desperately needs.

As for me, I'll be wearing my Obama underwear and "Yes we can" slippers first thing tomorrow morning while I eat my Obama-shaped pancakes watching picture-in-picture-in-picture MSNBC/CNN/ABC coverage on all new inauguration news that has broken in the last 6 hours prior to the event. Then I might actually go back to being sane while I watch the actual event.

9 comments:

  1. I agree in regards to much of the commercialism. But "It's still what it's always been..."? I disagree pretty strongly. Repeat that to the Congressman from Georgia who was almost killed during the civil rights movement, or to the 105 year-old woman sitting in the front row today. Or, for that matter to your dad who is to felling huge relief after the nightmare of the last eight years. Definitely the most momentous in my lifetime!!

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  2. See, I agree that it is the most momentous, which is why it's frustrating the extent to which people are hyping it up to an unreal extent.

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  3. So what you're saying is that all the hype and commercialism somehow cheapens this extraordinary moment in time? Because I surely don't see in the media coverage.

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  4. Yeah, I guess cheapens is a good way of putting it. I've been pretty pleased with NBC's coverage, but it was more the week of non-stop promotion on all these channels and superfluous non-news stories on the various inaugural balls, what Michelle Obama was going to be wearing, the new presidential limo, etc.

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  5. There's a solution to that Adam...turn your TV off! BTW...didn't Craig Robinson look great in his Orange & Black scarf?!!

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  6. I immediately laughed when Tom Brokaw said he was wearing Princeton colors.

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  8. the whole jaded thing doesn't really work too well for you Adam. :/ and that makes pandas sad.

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  9. Eh, jaded happens every once in a while. And really it was all the pre-event hype that bugged me. Watching the coverage today has actually been really enjoyable. I'll make sure to go back to rainbows and puppies tomorrow.

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