LOL Obama, Daily 08 March 2010

Domestic battery is never funny. But politicians beating on each other, HIGH-Larious!

The Whitehouse Photostream has been reduced to a trickle lately, hope I'm not responsible for that...

LOL Obama, Daily 16 February 2010

My apologies to Needlenose Ned Ryerson, it's really not fair to make comparisons between him and Beady-eyed Joe Biden . . .

But given Delaware's regulatory environment, it's no surprise that Biden would be a big proponent of life insurance.

(but really, this is just an excuse to use my "Stephen Tobolowsky" tag, again)

Every Time a Blogger Links to Fox News, A Kitten Dies!!!

Good thing I hate cats... (here are today's top three links that are certain to kill kittens and piss off the Obama Administration)

Cheney: Obama's Afghan War Strategy 'Bears Striking Resemblance' to Bush's
Cheney stating the obvious. Unfortunately, the obvious sometimes needs restating, given the urge to ignore and bury the obvious that seems to persist throughout large chunks of those that are supposed to report on what's happening in the world. At least Pres. Obama got Karzai to hold a runoff, I can't say I approve of the tactics he used. Inflicting Sen. John Kerry on poor Pres. Karzai would seem to me to be a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions.

Obama's Appearances at Fundraisers Outpace Presidents Bush and Clinton
This is just evil spin from that evil Foxnews. While it's true that Obama seems to have remained in perpetual campaign mode as President, whether it be fundraising, making speeches better suited for the stump than for a President, or inserting himself into state political races, it's wrong to point out these facts. He's going to need that money to get re-elected in 2012, and getting re-elected is far more important to him and his administration than actually governing effectively.

President Obama, Don't Create an Enemies List
Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander chastised Pres. Obama for his apparent Nixonian habit of having an enemies list (a list, which I'm proud to say, I was on, at least as of Jan 24th, not sure where I stand now, though I suspect LGF has dropped off the list). The Administration sent out their jackals to the Sunday shows this weekend to specifically name Fox News as a non-news network, even Nixon wasn't so bold. If it hadn't already been apparent that was how he and his administration would operate from the beginning of his campaign, this would be shocking. The only shocking thing is that it has taken this many months for more people to realize how Nixonian the Obama Administration behaves.

Your Daily Photo (A Bodacious Day for Buddies of the Bud, or Maybe Not, Edition)

US Attornery General, Eric Holder, claims his Justice Department will back off on prosecution of potheads in states where they've legalized medical marijuana.

This sort of half-assery is not a solution. Sham 'medical' dispensaries, like the one above, are a joke (I don't know for a certainty that the above shop is shady, but given the name, the storefront doctor right next to it, it's location near UCLA, all signs point to shaminess). People who want to get high shouldn't have to commit fraud to do so (in conspiracy with shady doctors). Either stuff should be legal, or not, the 'medical' marijuana loophole is ridiculous.

There's still too large of a grey area, and with that grey area you get selective enforcement. The feds are deferring to states, but even within the states that have legalized the sticky icky, you are going to get politically motivated crackdowns by law enforcement officials who want to burnish their 'law and order' bona fides. The same day the AP reports on AG Holder's new guidelines, there's a story about Los Angeles County District Attorney (and likely 2013 mayoral candidate) Steve Cooley stepping up raids on shops that are suspected of playing a bit loose with the 'medical' aspect of medical marijuana.

Here's what I said on the subject of decriminilization during the election when past statements from then Candidate Obama were making the rounds

I've always found that position asinine. Either something is legal, or not. Decriminilization is a dodge, sets people up for selective prosecution or fines, and makes the job of police and prosecutors more, not less, complicated.

(and if you follow that link, please ignore what I wrote about that Fairey poster, I was very wrong about that one, didn't expect so many to be so eagerly gullible for an Obama-centric cult of personality)

LOL Obama ?!?

In honor of his recently announced Nobel Peace Prize, I present to you, LOL Obama (been awhile since I've done a 'Commentary by Means of LOL Speak', though there isn't any actual LOL Speak in the caption, if I made a caption that suggested Pres. Obama spoke in LOL style bad grammar, I'd probably be accused of racism...)

(the original can be found, here)

(and I'm ignoring the White House's interpretation of their copyright on this photo, besides, this is a satirical reinterpetation of the original photograph, and falls under fair use as far as I'm concerned)

If This Shot is Indicative of How He Plays, Then, He AIN'T Got Game... (A Special BLOGTOBER 2009 PhotoAnalysis)

So, while perusing the official White House Flickr stream, noticed the above shot of President Obama ballin' on Martha's Vineyard (cause, when you wanna ball, you don't go to Rucker Park, or Venice Beach, nope, presidential ballers head out to The Vineyard).

First thing I noticed is, hey, that's the same ball I play with!

Second thing I noticed was that Obama didn't take off his wedding ring. Not cool, not cool at all. Basketball is not a non-contact sport, especially hands, and that ring increases the potential for injury for both you and the other guys on the court. If you are going to ball, take off all earrings, rings, watches, and tuck any chains under your jersey, it's for your own safety and the safety of those you play with.

Third thing I noticed was those shoes (and the entire outfit, for that matter), look brand new out of the box. For someone who supposedly plays all the time, I find it strange that his kicks aren't a bit more worn looking.

Fourth thing I noticed was that Obama's a ball hog. Dude, it appears you are playing two on two, you've got two guys on you, you've got your teammate cutting towards the basket, and judging from your focus on the rim, that there's no chance in hell that you actually passed that ball like you should have.

Fifth thing I noticed was the position of his dominate hand on the ball. I assume you shoot lefty, and if that's the case, you aren't going to be very accurate with your left hand that far on top of the ball.

Sixth thing I noticed was blondy was playing him as if he's a righty. Dude, he's well known to be a lefty, do your scouting report. Rather than going for a block, you should have your body on him, or if all else fails, tap his left elbow, make him call a foul, but don't give up a jump shot in the key.

Seventh thing I noticed was his ass. There's no comfortable way to say this, but Pres. Obama's ass looks awfully tight in that picture, and not tight in a good way, more in an, uptight and gobbling his own underwear and shorts right up into his rectum, kind of way. For a half black man, Obama has a rather flat white butt.

Eighth thing I noticed was the leg tuck. What did he hope to accomplish with that? Other than making it look as if he jumped higher than he really did, looks like a real awkward way to leap.

Ninth thing I notice is that you never see him playing defense. Whenever they show him, he has the ball, or he's on offense. That's suspicious to me, I bet he looks dorky on defense, going to have to get some GOP leaning photogs in one of these game to take shots that aren't meant to flatter.

That's all, I still think I could guard him pretty easily, everything I've seen of him suggests he isn't that quick, he has some obvious and expoitable tendencies, and he plays way too upright.

On This Day, 48 Years Ago...

. . . The One chose to reveal his latest incarnation. He escaped the womb on August 4th, 1961, but His Oneness was made known even before the moment of birth. The exact point where He went from lump of cells to The Hope of Mankind Incarnate is still in dispute, and is an issue best left for theologians. Given The One's stance on reproductive rights, we have to assume He would have been comfortable with the notion that His Earthly Vessel of Birthing might have chosen a different path, and delayed his birth, but He could not afford the delay, so He made sure that His parents were prepared for His coming.

He chose a Kenyan father and Kansan mother so that He may be The One, for The One must be of The Many, and The Many can Worship The One. He chose to be a He, not because He-ness is better than She-ness, but because, unfortunately (as The Primary Opponent proved), the electorate isn't quite ready for She-ness in the House of White. He chose straightness, not because gayness would be a bad thing, but because of the Electorate again, and while The One must contain The Many, some of The Many must be contained only in His Compassion, and not in His orientation or gender.

The One chose a humble existence for His formative years, and He chose to be a traveler at His mother's side, eventually settling on The Island of The Chosen (and the Island of the Birthing, Despite what some naysayers say) to grow into a man. As all spiritual leaders must, He sinned, He struggled, He suffered, so that He may understand all that it means to be One with The Many. But to lead The Many, The One must be the best of us, so no state school would do for his education, Harvard Law beckoned, and The One answered the call.

The One also met The Wife, she would be the perfect balance to his Oneness, she would be the only one to have the audacity to not adore The One, and her lack of adoration makes The One love her all the more. The One had to work in evil law firms after graduation, but His Higher Calling lead him to that most noble of all enterprises, Community Organizing. Once The One solved all the problems faced by the citizens of His small section of Chicago (cursed are the naysayers who claim that problems remain, He gave them perfect love, and they have prospered), He embarked on his true calling, a life in politics.

His rise has been meteoric, and His rise is not at an end. He will reverse the rise of the oceans, and cool the fevered earth, He will heal Mother Gaia herself, and Mother Gaia will bless the earth for its people had the wisdom to follow The One. He understands that our prosperity is dooming Gaia, so he has worked feverishly to reverse decades of American (and yeah, even global) prosperity, and he has succeeded in that reversal beyond even the wildest imaginings of The One (and as you could imagine, the imaginings of such a blessed being could be quite wild).

The One knows that perfection frightens the masses, so The One makes sure to have bad weeks, and even months, he stumbles and mumbles, and hires incompetent cronies, not because he is imperfect, but because these flaws are necessary to prevent His Awesomeness from scaring the populous. He is wise in his compassion, and His willingness to seem so fallible, feeble, and forelorn during his first half year in office is all part of a larger plan to Be the Change That You Believe In.

So on this day, Day One, of Year 48 (the calendar does not yet reflect today as Day One, or this year as Year 48, but give it time, give it time), The One celebrated, and The Many celebrated with Him.

And as the future is not yet written, there are still forces that work against The One, and The Oneness He Will Bring. If our electorate is not wise, and rejects The One for his second term, Mother Gaia will punish the planet, for her wrath is great, but she will single out The United States for the greatest wrath, for they will have deserved it, and she will inflict her worst on The Flyover States, for those shall be the people that thwarted The Great Healing that The One was put on this planet to accomplish.

Do not let this darkness happen, do not fail The One, do not doom the planet, and celebrate The One who shall Unite The Many, for today is His Birthday.



[largely a repost of last year's birthday ode to The One, with a few lines added to reflect events that have passed since then, didn't see that whole destruction of the economy thing coming back in last August, or that the 'birther' nonsense would continue, that's for sure...]

Your Daily Photo (With an Added Bonus Disturbing, and Disturbingly Sloppy Photoshop Job Edition)

A panorama stitch shot (using Windows Live Photo Gallery's stitching software) I snapped above (from an undisclosed rooftop parking lot in West Los Angeles this past Saturday), and a request for a Post-Impressionistic Obama pic below (as Althouse commands, I obey, though I suck at photoshop, so the results could have been better, but I'm unskilled, and lazy).



(I think I should get bonus points for the gender-bending, though)

UPDATE: Woohoo! A direct link from Althouse, always a good thing, and one more bad photoshop for the road, I feel bad for feminizing our President the way I did, so here's a more manly art historical poorly executed photoshop job of the President, his wife, and the reproduction of Michelangelo's David that can be found at the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace.

Your Daily Photo (The Future of GM Found Sitting In Front of Rand Corp HQ Edition)

Vehicle found parked in front of Rand Corp's Santa Monica headquarters. It's got the imprimatur of The One (or at least a bumpersticker placed on the 'windshield' suggestive of such), and no doubt the approval of The Goracle, so gaze upon the future of personal conveyance.

The vehicle pictured has the web address of ElectricCustomCars.com on the back, I guess they're the ones who created this thing. It's more interesting than a stock GEM, but probably less useful.

Me, I'll stick with filthy, explosive, carbon-spewing gas powered vehicles for the foreseeable future, unless the Obama Administration gets itchy and forces a quick transition to electrics and the like.

Your Daily Photo (This Probably Would Be Offensive if Frijoles Were the Only Comida Pictured Edition)

As President Barack Obama said, "Happy Cinco de Quatro!"

(via Instapundit)

And I'm down for celebrating any holiday commemorating when the lousy French get their asses handed to them by a bunch of campesinos*.

*the whole 'campesinos' thing is a fiction, it was army v. army, and though the French lost at Puebla, they won the conflict and established the Second Mexican Empire.

Also, today is NOT a national holiday in Mexico (more along the lines of a regional holiday like Patriots' Day in Massachusetts and Maine), mainly just an excuse for tequila shooters on this side of the border.

The Obligatory First Hundred Days Post . . .

No, not that trumped up excuse for writing utterly vapid puff pieces about President Obama, the hundred days I'm talking about are the past hundred days of your immodest blog host having a gym membership. I signed up at the Magic Johnson 24 Hour Fitness at Slauson and LaCienega the night before the inaugural, so my new (fitness) regime coincides with the President's new (socialist) regime.

So far, my experience with 24 Hour Fitness has been positive. Sure, at peak times it's hard to get on a machine, sure the larger Santa Monica location can be a bit of a pig sty before the overnight cleaning crew gets to work, and yes, way too many men who have no business being completely comfortable with their nudity, are way too comfortable strolling around the locker with their dangly bits, dangling.

But with all that said, I've managed to lose a reasonable amount of weight (from 205 to 190 lbs, ten pounds were in the first three weeks, only five pounds since, but that's OK), a decent amount of inches (less 1 inch chest, less 3 inches waist, less a half inch from my hips), and joint pains that plagued me when I first started a more regular fitness routine (right knee, right hip) have disappeared. I can even use the kick drum pedal in Rock Band with my right leg for hours at a time without swelling (which wasn't the case before). Whatever was wrong with my knee, was largely due to lack of consistent use, rather than any intrinsic damage in there, judging from these results. My cardio health seems better, though I've never really had that checked out before, so I don't have a baseline for comparison, but it seems like I can push myself quite a bit harder for longer stretches without my heart jumping through my chest.

I'm not going nightly like I did in the beginning, and I've set up my garage so I can use a Bosu Ball and jump rope for some quick workouts without driving to the gym (it seems a bit odd to drive 1.5 miles to then workout on a treadmill for 3.2 miles, but on the treadmill you can keep a steady pace, zone out a bit, listen to an audiobook, while on the street, there's traffic to negotiate, so that's my justification, and I'm sticking to it), but I think I've managed to make daily (or at least semi-daily) physical activity a regular part of my life again, so that's a good thing.

Just like President Obama, this was only a start, this is the first hundred days of many future hundred days, and I will be equally nebulous about how I will accomplish my goals for those days, or what even those goals are . . .

Carol E. Lee of Politico, You Have Earned a Place on the Obama Administration's ENEMIES LIST, Congratulations!!!

So, the whole, President Barack Obama is a fantastic orator bit is crashing in with the reality that it's more like, President Barack Obama does a mighty fine job of reading prepared bits, but if the teleprompter fails he's in deep doodoo.

Carol E. Lee points out on Politico today (hat tip Drudge), that President Obama relies on his little glass panel to an unprecedented degree.

She also mentions the trouble photographers are having finding an angle to get a good shot of #44 while keeping the telltale glass panels out of the shot.

Somehow I think if #43 had required a teleprompter at every single engagement, we would have seen every picture of W. with the prompter in the frame. What does it say about a man who needs a prompter even when he's repeating rote campaign rhetoric? It says to me his short term memory is completely shot, and he knows his thoughts don't flow from one to the next as they should.

What exactly is he pretending not to smoke now, anyway?

(what's the latest, is he or isn't he a smoker?)

Maybe that explains his shoddy treatment of Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He forgot he was coming over for a visit, and did everything at the last minute, plus he didn't want to the traditional joint press conference cause he knew that he'd come across as a stammering ninny compared even to the charisma challenged Brown.

Yahoo Fails to Defuse "Google Bomb", New White House Miserable . . .

Google fixed the 'miserable failure' google bomb so that it doesn't list Whitehouse.gov as the number one search hit for that term, but Yahoo hasn't as of this screencap on February 5th, 2009.

Maybe Yahoo knows something Google doesn't.

Wow, Obama Really IS MAGIC! (and Japanese Are Really Kinda Racist, and I'm Pretty Sure Their Michelle is a Dude)

YES WE CAN! CHANGE!!

(it's the new 'abracadabra')

[via Tim Blair]

Salesman of the Year!

Perusing the Zune software for the latest releases, I couldn't get away from The One. He stared back in multiple genres. Here are but a few of the latest releases using Obama to sell their songs (or songs specifically about #44). The one that bothers me the most is A Change is Gonna Come. Sam Cooke does not need Obama to sell that song, that performance of that song is far better than anything President Obama can ever hope to accomplish.

And can this sort of worshipful stuff be maintained for 4 to 8 years?

What Will It Take To Kill Zombie Keynes?!?

ZOMBIE KEYNES WON'T DIE!!!!

Conor Clarke blogging at Atlantic Business has this catchy post title, "We are all Keynesians now (including Ronald Reagan)". He uses as evidence a quote he pulls from the NYT interactive guide to past recessions and attempts to work our way out of them as narrated by various professorial types. Clarke quotes Jeff Frankel as follows:

Even though it wasn't done under a Keynesian banner or with Keynesian intention, it did have Keynesian effects, and it did help pull us out of the recession of 1981-82.

Let's apply that logic to other areas, like say chemistry, even though it wasn't done under a hermetic alchemical banner, or with alchemical intention, it did have alchemical effects, and they did manage to transmute lead into gold.

Keynes in a lot of ways is like an economists version of Plato. A thinker with some big ideas, but ideas that were created in a closed system resistant to experimentation and the scientific method. When Plato expanded the classical system of four elements and used it to explain all observable phenomena, he was really just talking out of his ass, but he talked so well, folks listened for many centuries. He was so persuasive that when people tested his theories, they questioned their experimental results, or forbade experimentation all together, rather than question the theory.

Seems Keynes holds a similar position for a certain ilk of economists and political scientists. Keynesian economic policy appeals to progressives given that it requires a firm central government hand guiding fiscal policy, and all that spending can be used to transform societies from the top down. Problem is, Keynesian efforts to combat recessions have failed every time and every place they've been attempted, there has never been a recovery, anywhere in the world, that could be called classically Keynesian. There have been economies that have recovered despite Keynesian policies enacted by governments, but those have all been due to other forces at play.

President Obama seems intent on steering us towards a centralized government, with a domineering executive branch, and within that executive branch the decision making will be largely divorced from the traditional bureaucratic structure in place. He's weakening the various cabinet positions while installing all these new 'czars' to oversee policy, and the lure of spending unlimited funds makes the Keynesian method of economic recovery irresistible. That's why it's in Obama's interest (and those that support his goals) to exaggerate the extent of the current crisis (or even help make it worse) so that massive increases in non-defense and non-entitlement spending fueled by skyrocketing budget deficits will be our only way out of the situation we're in.

Total load of crap, obviously, we've seen supply side oriented policies work over and over again, and not just in the USA. There are those that insist on rejecting the possibility that reducing government, increasing the flexibility businesses have to respond to this mess by lowering their tax burden, and easing the regulatory maze they must navigate, are all bad ideas because of the current recession. This is the best time to get a bit libertarian on this government's ass. A shame voters didn't vote that way. A high price is going to be paid for the decisions folks made in November 2008, these debts we will be incurring along with the power the federal government is likely to usurp (it's rare for that power to ever revert back to the states or citizens once it's flowed towards Washington) are going to last a lot longer than the current economic crisis.

I'm Merely 12th on Obama's List of Most Hated Bloggers (But I'm Aiming for Top Ten Status)

What, you think major radio personalities are the only ones inspiring the wrath of #44?

So, I have an inside source who claims to have access to President Obama's enemies list. I can't give you specifics on the daring and dangerous subterfuge employed by my source to sneak out the details of this list. Suffice to say, it would make an excellent suspense film, the kind that Hitchcock used to make, and though there was no hanging off of Mt. Rushmore, there were monuments involved, and that whole Purple Tunnel of Doom, it was actually an elaborate ruse set up by my source to slip surveillance so that she (or he) could get the information in the proper hands.

Hope and Change is hard to fight, when you are up against 'true believers', they'll stop at nothing to prevent embarrassment. Also, my source found out that the whole 'enormity' thing was an inside joke (Enormity is Michelle's nickname for the President's man parts).

Anyway, I think I can safely give you the top 15 Most Hated Bloggers (or Blogs) as currently conceived of by President Barack Obama, this list is subject to change (especially if I have anything to say or do about it, I'm moving up, the notes about each are my own speculation as why these particular folks are on the list)

1. Instapundit - Why would he be #1? He's a pussycat, but he's a pussycat with a huge audience and a libertarian outlook which is antithetical to bigger government progressivism which Obama espouses. That's troublesome for The One

2. Victor Davis Hanson - He's just so damn eloquent, and he's focused on uncovering the historical echoes (and the bad places similar choices in the past lead) of the policy choices the Obama Administration seems headed towards.

3. Deadspin - Yeah, not so much about the politics, Obama the mega sports fan just doesn't like their incessant snarkiness.

4. Hugh Hewitt - Another conservative blogger who is sticking to his principles, despite the swirl of Hope and Change in the air.

5. Glenn Greenwald - I know, I know, he's basically on the President's side, but his prose style is just so turgid that Obama, The Author can't stand this torturer of the language.

6. Hit & Run - Reason Magazine's group blog, as a group these libertarians seem rather wary of New Deal II. I can't imagine why.

7. Megan McArdle - You'd think she made the list for her eloquent advocacy on behalf of libertarian economic policies, but no, it's just his male insecurities and general freaked-outedness about a woman taller than he is.

8. Andrew Sullivan - Again, on his side, yet he makes the list. Why? Simple, even an adoration junkie like President Barack Obama can take only so much obsequious fawning before wanting to puke. Sully has consistently pegged the Presidential Puke-O-Meter with his sycophantic posts regarding #44.

9. Perez Hilton - Another surprise for this list, he's just a bit too catty for Obama's taste. Plus those stupid scribbles he adds to pictures are an affront to photographers and photoshoppers everywhere (doesn't help that he dissed Michelle's gown designer).

10. The Blog at The Weekly Standard / The Corner at NRO - From Obama's perspective both these blogs and magazines sort of blend together into one big pile of conservative punditry. He has trouble differentiating them, so he just melded them together into one big enemy. That's the awesome power of being The One.

11. The Volokh Conspiracy - Not all the conspirators incur the wrath of #44, but enough of them do, and they state their cases with such clarity, that he's keeping an eye on them. Plus there's a bit of the old professional jealousy thing going on since he was a one time Law Prof himself.

12. Immodest Proposals - Woohoo!!! Yeah, Me!!!! It's an honor just to be nominated. My prominence on this list is completely out of proportion with the number of eyeballs I get. I think it's the whole "The Obama Will Wash Away Your Sins" thing that especially riles him. He has his eye on me, but I have my eye on him, so the feeling is mutual #44.

13. Hello Kitty Hell - Obama's secretly a huge Hello Kitty fan (being surrounded by all those women has to have some sort of effect, I guess this is one of them), and he doesn't appreciate this blog's attacking of that great brand.

14. Little Green Footballs - How are we supposed to be all Hope and Change-y and have the world love us again if blogs like LGF (or the Jawa Report) are pointing out all the problems in the world? The Obama is not amused. Plus, the comment section does get a bit out of hand there, and every time Obama's tried to register, they've ran out of space before he could sign up.

15. Althouse - Althouse earns the last spot on this list, despite having voted for President Obama. She's just a bit too gleeful in pointing out when he's being hypocritical, and she's a bit too eager to point out the insane adoration accorded #44 coming from the supposedly neutral media. Those are traits that irk President Obama, and that irksomeness is enough to make the last spot on the current list.

I'm sure this list will expand over time, give him a few months and he'll probably make Nixon's enemies list look paltry.

I Guess This Qualifies as Change . . .

We also need to be affectionate, and you can see that with Barack and Michelle as well. They do a lot of a lot of touching, kissing, even fisting with one and other.

(context, and more from Ed Driscoll)

(I'm almost dead certain Pres. Bush and Laura Bush weren't fisting with one and other, but what happens behind closed doors is none of my business)

(I'm less certain about Pres. Buchanan and Mr. William R. King, however)

Why Do I Have Such a Problem With Chris Ayres?

OK, first of all I don't really have a problem with Chris Ayres, just thought I'd get that out of the way, second of all, I do have a problem with the following passage from his most recent missive from our corner of the world

But, of course, we're all wiser now, even here in LA, where gullibility - or “suspension of disbelief', as Hollywood prefers to call it - is pretty much a requirement for simply getting out of bed in the morning. This is a town where it rains for two and half minutes a year, after all: human life shouldn't be possible - yet here we are, regardless. Which perhaps explains why Angelenos fall for bubbles harder than anyone else, while trying their damnedest to sell the very same hype to the rest of the world.

Suppositions without supporting evidence, there's simply no proof that Angelenos are any more susceptible to huxterism than any other part of this country, or the rest of the world, for that matter.

First, the entertainment industry is only one minor part of the overall economy here, this is not a company town, no matter how often people want to make that claim, there are sections of Los Angeles that may feel like a company town, and if you wander into a coffee house in the 'wrong' part of town, you'll be overwhelmed by the preening, self-satisfied yet oddly desperate manner of the folks hunched over their laptops or speaking too loudly into their phones. In number of employees and even overall dollar value of trade, the entertainment business is a major factor locally, but it's not everything, if anything is king in L.A., it's international trade (Port of LA's economic impact is huge), and tourism. The dream factory accounts for a lot, but its impact is not equal to trade or tourism locally, but in the popular imagination around the globe, Los Angeles is a company town.

Second (boy, that was a long first, wasn't it?), given that we've got a town full of hustlers and players and wannabes, rather than being naive and easily fooled, it tends to lend a 'been there, done that' vibe to most folks who aren't absolutely, 'fresh of the boat'. If anything, our proximity to Hollywood lends itself to less susceptibility to the various irrational exuberances that sweep over a place like Iceland or Albania.

Third, give your countryman some due. The phrase "willing suspension of disbelief" was coined by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his philosophical work, Biographia Literia (text of Chapter XIV, here). I assume Mr. Ayres knows this, so why attribute it to "Hollywood"? Furthermore, I don't think most folks in Hollywood use the term, other than derisively to discount a work that relies on its audience willingness to suspend their belief a bit too much. But even if he's wrong about Angelenos being particularly susceptible, and even if he's wrong about "Hollywood's" use of the phrase, I think he's right to connect Samuel Taylor Coleridge's philosophical definition of poems and poetry with the inflated sense of expectations surrounding our freshly minted 44th President. Here's the first paragraph from Chapter XIV of Biographia Literaria

During the first year that Mr. Wordsworth and I were neighbours, our conversations turned frequently on the two cardinal points of poetry, the power of exciting the sympathy of the reader by a faithful adherence to the truth of nature, and the power of giving the interest of novelty by the modifying colours of imagination. The sudden charm, which accidents of light and shade, which moon-light or sun-set diffused over a known and familiar landscape, appeared to represent the practicability of combining both. These are the poetry of nature. The thought suggested itself (to which of us I do not recollect) that a series of poems might be composed of two sorts. In the one, the incidents and agents were to be, in part at least, supernatural; and the excellence aimed at was to consist in the interesting of the affections by the dramatic truth of such emotions as would naturally accompany such situations, supposing them real. And real in this sense they have been to every human being who, from whatever source of delusion, has at any time believed himself under supernatural agency. For the second class, subjects were to be chosen from ordinary life; the characters and incidents were to be such, as will be found in every village and its vicinity, where there is a meditative and feeling mind to seek after them, or to notice them, when they present themselves.

I quote the whole paragraph, to give the context, but the key point is, "the incidents and agents were to be, in part at least, supernatural; ... And real in this sense they have been to every human being who, from whatever source of delusion, has at any time believed himself under supernatural agency."

The current fervor over President Barack Obama seems to have a supernatural and delusional tinge to it. I've been poking fun at the cultishness of the faithful for quite some time, and his election and subsequent inauguration has yet to dim this adoration. For those that believe, he really is a supernatural being, and he really will be "The One", he can no sooner live up to those expectations than he can waive his magic wand and turn his own turds into gold (turning lead into gold is way too easy for a demigod, I want to see turds into gold before I choose to believe).