This morning Chuck made a commentary about the First Puppy, Bo Obama. In his musings on the issue put forth the point that the media is placing such importance upon the First Dog that they have given the dog a last name. Now I don’t want to ‘steal’ from Chuck or impose too deeply upon his creativity, but I felt compelled to give the credit for the idea of this blog post to the person that deserves the credit. This is why I went out of my way to provide links to “The Peak” and “Chuck’s pages”.
While I listened to Chuck and snickered at his comments, I thought, “You know, humor or not – I wonder if Chuck is right”. I knew that in the past the First Families had their pets. There was Socks the Clinton cat, Checkers the Nixon dog and many other pets – however the media never saw it fit to give these pets a last name. They were always addressed as “Socks” or “Checkers” whenever the media decided to write about them. So I went online to check out the subject.
I first went to the White House site and found that it actually had a blog entry called “Meet Bo, the First Dog”. The pup is a cute little thing, for it having a close resemblance to the head of an old-fashioned rag mop, but I didn’t see any mention of it being called anything but “Bo”. Undaunted I next went to Google. Once I did the search it seemed that everyone from private blogs to the Christian Science Monitor to the mainstream media were calling the dog “Bo Obama”. There were literally thousands of hits for “Bo Obama”. It seemed Chuck’s commentaries are correct, the media, mainstream or otherwise, have seen the importance of giving an animal a last name. My old TI in the military would simply say “Outstanding” at such a development, with the overtone of disbelief or awe at the fact of such a thing happening.
I realize this is such a trivial thing to obsess over, but I can’t help wondering why “Bo” is deemed as deserving a last name… whereas other white house pets did not get the same attention and honor from the media. I really couldn’t find the answer in my Google searches, not one of the reporters cared to explain why they felt the need to bestowed a last name to a dog, however upon searching other things I found that there is no lack of newsworthy items to report upon in today’s world.
The Obamamization of America
There is a new word coined, I don’t remember where I first saw it or who coined it, but the word is Obamamization. In searching the word I find no definition for the word, official or unofficial, it’s simply a word that many use and they expect others to understand it’s meaning. However words mean things, so what does Obamamization mean?
Basically Obamamization is the act of brainwashing people into thinking that everything about the Obama Family, especially Barack, is perfect and flawless. The term most likely includes a lot more than this simple explanation, but the explanation given is still at the heart of the overall definition.
The media, and I don’t blame the mainstream media alone in this, are the prime offenders of this Obamamization of America for they have been building the man’s image and status up into the ranks seldom seen in history. They have been building the image of Barack up to a status that it will be impossible for the man to live up to, and that is totally unfair – even if it helps him early in his presidency. The man has the potential to do great things, but look at what has happened so far.
Prior to his winning the election the ideology that only Barack has the answers were evident and his methods were the only ones to work. He had everyone from the Gay community to the anti-war crowd believing that as soon as the man entered office – everything will suddenly become ‘perfect’. The man reached superstar status that is usually only reserved for people like Jesus Christ or murdered Presidents. It only took a few weeks after the inauguration for some of these wild-eyed groupies to begin criticizing their hero for not living up to their unrealistic expectations. The man didn’t even have time to unpack and settle into his new home and job before the complaints about his not making gay marriage or pot legal. There was even a small uproar over his not ordering the troops home already.
Give the guy a break, America, he isn’t God and he isn’t a miracle worker. He’s just a politician who has ideas on how to handle things, some are good ideas and some are bad ideas. He very well may turn into the best president we ever had, but he’s not going to do it in his first 100 days, first year or first term. Most of all, give us a break. Many of us don’t want to be Obamasized, we simply want our politicians to do better for us all as well as us as individuals. If anything is going to turn America against Obama it’s going to be the feeling of being pressured into thinking this guy is the end all/be all answer to every little problem.
I didn’t vote for Barack, but it amazes me that I seem more willing to let the man work for us than many of his Obama-ites, however I also will get sick of hearing about the Obamas and how great his ideas are in time. Treat the guy as we should treat any person, as we should treat any president. Give him the chance to be human and not some demi-god… and for God-sake, quit wasting time and energy on trying to be so politically correct that we have to give his pets last names. Next thing you know we’ll be naming dance moves after the man and naming his T-Shirts. Then again, that may be the answer to our economic woes. The government can ride the current wave of Obamamania by selling his T-shirts and underwear on Ebay. Hey, it’s a thought!
