A couple thoughts that hit me this week while trying to keep my TV viewing to ESPN, Lifetime, Travel Channel and Cartoon Network.
Now that the election is over and I’ve had time to step back and survey the landscape one thing stands out to me as an extreme travesty most vile. This has nothing to do with politics but with the sheer audacity (pun intended) to plagiarize the backbone of America. Before Joe the Plumber came about this working man was carrying the load for the middle-class everywhere. And like a socket wrench to the gut he has his entire empire ripped from under his steel-toed feet.
Our President-elect ran an excellent campaign full of well-worded speeches and inspirational mantras. This is where we as Americans must take umbrage. While many were moved to action by the words “Yes We Can” I was infuriated at the lost royalties earned by Bob The Builder. This hero of the hard hat coined the phrase many years ago and has been followed by thousands of young children all aspiring to build a better life. Be it paving a highway, raising an I-beam or stamping out social injustice Bob will always be the paragon for such achievement. Thank you President-elect Obama for your efforts but I’ll stick with Bob, an original constructionist.
My second observation is not so tongue-in-cheek. During his acceptance speech Obama retraced his ascent in the campaign. In trying to make the point that he was different than all the other Washington types and came up from the people he rolled off a “word-map” of the events, people and places that lifted him to such heights. Indulge this quote;
“Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and on the front porches of Charleston.”
This sounds very all-American. I can smell the apple pie shared among friends. One small fact betrays the message of the middle class hero. The “Front Porch” he is referring to is 21 King St. In April he made a campaign stop at a $1000 a plate dinner held in the courtyard of the home. A home that is valued at $7.5 million. My only guess is that in the new Obama economy this will be the new middle-class. So my friends, take a look at what you may very well own within the next four years.
