Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Quick thoughts on McCain and Inauguration Music

They both suck, har har.

But seriously. I've wanted to provide a final word on John McCain. As with most of America I've taken a deep sigh of relief with the results. I think for better or worse, we won't spend as much time thinking how terrible McCain could have been as a president, and I don't just mean his policy choices. McCain's whole M.O. has (almost) always (well, often) been to be on the right side and to be the good guy. His life is based on dividing all things into moral issues. This is why Democrats often like him, many of his policies are right, but that doesn't make one a president.

McCain's entire temperament is so unsuited to leadership it's beyond frightening that he got so close. Think of the range of political and economic setups for the nations of the world. You can't just put countries into naught and nice columns. Then think of all the issues the president has to address. Just imagine him tackling the economy. He would immediately find the bad guys, since they are all around. Then what? Correcting the economy is far more complicated than ending earmarks or bombing Iran.

If it's sounds like I'm saying he would be Bush part 2, then that's pretty much accurate. But not for politics, but because he's John McCain. In a sense, I can understand a bit better why some voters put so much weight into the non-policy issues, because on those alone, he should have been sunk from the beginning. Sure this post is after the fact, but this thought has been hanging around, distracted me like a loose tooth.
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Now music. I avoided the war crime on music that was the Sunday concert. All I really need to say is - Sheryl Crow and William (I will not put periods in that dickwad's name) together. During the inauguration proper, Aretha killed it. She coulda sang a phone book this morning and people would have been weeping. She sounded fantastic. It was such a breath of air from the endless fanfares leading up to the big event:

Ringside Boxing Announcer Man: And now the undersecretary to the undersecretary of bureaucracy."
*Fanfare #5092*
Ringside Boxing Announcer Man: And now Dick Cheney in a Dr. Strangelove wheelchair
*Evil fanfare #667*

And then there was the classical music atrocity with YoYo Ma and Itzak Perlman. Yes diversity is live and well, but when they announced the arranger was John Williams, the little voice in my yead went "NOOOOOOOOOOO." It was awful, just awful.

3 comments:

Stephen said...

It's not polite to talk about politics. In any context. Ever.

Jason Heat said...

Star Wars.
Superman.
Indiana Jones.

Obama.

That's quite a resume.

Scotty said...

Are you kidding? Aretha sounded TERRIBLE and she looked like a Christmas present. She sang like she'd just finished a marathon, huffing and puffing and wheezing her way through. Blame it on the cold? SHE'S FROM FUCKING DETROIT.

Talk about atrocities, this one was right up there with Paul Simon mumbling through "The Boxer" on the first SNL after 9/11. Just because she's the Queen of Soul and rightly on a pedestal for past accomplishments doesn't mean she deserves unilateral praise for every performance.

Also, the John Williams piece was alright, though unmemorable. Parts of the tune had me thinking they were about to bust into "Scotland the Brave."