Thursday, June 10, 2004
Reaganomics
After work yesterday I tried to walk down to Constitution Ave. to see if I could get a view of the parade. No dice -- too many people. I tried a couple places along the route, but everywhere I went the crowd was twenty deep and getting larger so I gave up.
It was just too damn hot to be standing so close to people. I feel for those soldiers under all those clothes.
One thing I saw that I thought was amusing was the plain-clothes Secret Service agents trying to act all nonchalant and blend into the crowd. If their ear pieces didn't give them away right off the bat, you can just tell by how their head is always on a swivel.
When I got home I watched a little of the procession on CNN and I was amazed at the coverage.
A story --
When I was unemployed I watched the Queen's opening of Parliament on CSPAN. Now we all know that the Brits love pomp and circumstance, so of course this was a very elaborate ceremony with a great many moving parts. I thought it was very funny how seriously this was taken and also how unbelievably trivial it was. At one point, some chancellor or whatever who had some important ceremonial role walked backwards down the dais the Queen was on as opposed to forwards and this was seen as a major coup. I mean, give me a break. I had a lot of respect, however, for the several members of the House of Commons who refused to watch the Queen address the Hereditary Lords -- the Unicameralists, they're called.
My point is, the coverage of yesterday's parade was very similar in tone, with its extreme deference and fixation on formality, symbolism, and detail. In other words, entirely contrary to the republican (little "r") roots of this country.
If I was from another planet and had never heard of the U.S., yesterday would have looked a lot like a King's funeral. The flyover was cool, though.
OH YEAH, and if I hear, "Regardless of what you thought of his politics ... blah blah blah," one more time as a set-up for some talking head to rank Reagan up there with FDR as one of the greats (not even close) I might put my foot through the TV.
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It was just too damn hot to be standing so close to people. I feel for those soldiers under all those clothes.
One thing I saw that I thought was amusing was the plain-clothes Secret Service agents trying to act all nonchalant and blend into the crowd. If their ear pieces didn't give them away right off the bat, you can just tell by how their head is always on a swivel.
When I got home I watched a little of the procession on CNN and I was amazed at the coverage.
A story --
When I was unemployed I watched the Queen's opening of Parliament on CSPAN. Now we all know that the Brits love pomp and circumstance, so of course this was a very elaborate ceremony with a great many moving parts. I thought it was very funny how seriously this was taken and also how unbelievably trivial it was. At one point, some chancellor or whatever who had some important ceremonial role walked backwards down the dais the Queen was on as opposed to forwards and this was seen as a major coup. I mean, give me a break. I had a lot of respect, however, for the several members of the House of Commons who refused to watch the Queen address the Hereditary Lords -- the Unicameralists, they're called.
My point is, the coverage of yesterday's parade was very similar in tone, with its extreme deference and fixation on formality, symbolism, and detail. In other words, entirely contrary to the republican (little "r") roots of this country.
If I was from another planet and had never heard of the U.S., yesterday would have looked a lot like a King's funeral. The flyover was cool, though.
OH YEAH, and if I hear, "Regardless of what you thought of his politics ... blah blah blah," one more time as a set-up for some talking head to rank Reagan up there with FDR as one of the greats (not even close) I might put my foot through the TV.
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