Stop Making Money Off My Vote Already
There's a lot of chatter this morning about the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Now, we're used to corruption in this state's politics. Rod can't help but have dollar signs in his eyes - that's how Illinois politics works. (Either you're corrupt and unethical like Rod and Ryan, or you're a completely moronic bigot like James Meeks or Monique Davis.) But Rod's arrest this morning reveals that there's yet another asshole desperate to make a quick buck off the way America voted last month.
What bothers me is the fact that no one seems offended by any of the innumerable other attempts to make money off Barack Obama's president-elect status. Every chump out there is already serving not only to cheapen Obama's presidency before he takes office, but to prolong America's reputation as a nation of blithering idiots. (If we made sense and acted responsibly, I suppose we couldn't call ourselves Americans, could we?) Too many of our fellow Americans are wasting their precious dollars on useless novelty items that commemorate a presidency that has yet to happen. Obama plates, Obama t-shirts and buttons, Obama lipgloss, wine, mousepad, pocket-knife keychains, teddy bears, action figures and bobble heads -- all this and HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YET! This is worse than gloating, people. It's stupid and pathetic.
The people behind this crass commercialization, and the idiots buying their wares, make me (still) embarrassed to be American and (particularly) sick to be a resident of Illinois. They should all be locked up with Blago. And then I should really think about moving elsewhere.
What bothers me is the fact that no one seems offended by any of the innumerable other attempts to make money off Barack Obama's president-elect status. Every chump out there is already serving not only to cheapen Obama's presidency before he takes office, but to prolong America's reputation as a nation of blithering idiots. (If we made sense and acted responsibly, I suppose we couldn't call ourselves Americans, could we?) Too many of our fellow Americans are wasting their precious dollars on useless novelty items that commemorate a presidency that has yet to happen. Obama plates, Obama t-shirts and buttons, Obama lipgloss, wine, mousepad, pocket-knife keychains, teddy bears, action figures and bobble heads -- all this and HE HASN'T DONE ANYTHING YET! This is worse than gloating, people. It's stupid and pathetic.
The people behind this crass commercialization, and the idiots buying their wares, make me (still) embarrassed to be American and (particularly) sick to be a resident of Illinois. They should all be locked up with Blago. And then I should really think about moving elsewhere.
5 comments:
If the allegations against Rob Blagojevich are true, he will have set a new standard for corruption in Illinois, which would be quite the feat.
As far as making money off Obama, it doesn't really offend me, because this is the USA right? If it's a land of opportunity then you have the right to create income out of any legal means available. It may not all be completely ethical or noble, but it's what we do. People make money selling cigarettes, alcohol, dieting, death (check out the funeral industry), childrens education(Baby Einstein - it's TV that makes you smart!), just about everything you can think of.
Should they pass a law that it's illegal to make Obama lipgloss? Aren't there enough stupid laws already? If some idiot wants to buy an Obama commemorative pen set, I say so be it, it's your money to spend on stupid sh*t.
From a business standpoint, you've got to make money while your trend is hot. Eventually Obama-hysteria will wear off and people will realize that he's just another politician. His popularity is at it's peak because he's done nothing that can be criticized yet. Actually, that's not true because some people are already saying he's not being "liberal enough" or "progressive enough" with his cabinet picks.
Better unload that truckload of Obama key chains as quickly as possible!
Oh man, you are gonna HATE your X-Mas gift from me.
Some people find Obama "hot". Not me, of course, but some people.
I know it's going to happen anyway, but it makes me feel ill. It suggests that all the sincerity before the election was fake, and people aren't as genuinely engaged in the political system as they claimed to be when they were convincing everyone to vote for the same guy.
Since the time you wrote this we've had the Obama Chia Pet and now the Obama Mao T-Shirt thanks to the Chinese and more crazy items than I could list. Do we really need Obama baseball cards? Apparently yes, because they're selling on Ebay for $50 a piece. He may end up the most merchandised president ever.
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