IS IT LIVE OR IS IT MEMOREX?

Back during the Beijing Olympics much was made of the Chinese government’s digital enhancement of the opening ceremony’s fireworks and the dubbing of the voice of the angelic child that sang at the festivities. Pundits railed at the PRC’s obsession with controlling the images the world saw and heard. Now we learn that the Obama camp has taken a page from the Chinese and altered the broadcast that the world viewed on their television screens

The inaugural committee took great pains to make sure that the festivities would span the entire range of American culture, featuring artists from rapper Jay-C to cellist Yo Yo Ma. The latter played a piece specially composed by movie theme legend John Williams (Jaws) in a quartet including violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill, four of the most distinguished classical musicians of our day. The New York Times reports that only a handful of people sitting near the quartet heard the real performance. The remainder of the 1.8 million people in the crowd assembled on the Washington Mall and the 38 million Americans gathered around their TV sets were listening to a studio recording of the piece.

Obamabots quickly rationalized the dishonest performance as absolutely necessary because of the cold, even though the Marine Band and the Navy Band Sea Chanters were able to perform under the less than perfect temperatures. We don’t know if the decision to dupe the public was made by the musicians, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, or the Obama handlers. We do know that the 1.8 million people, who waited hours in the cold to witness this President who they so desperately want to believe in, deserve honesty, that the 38 million Americans watching deserve the truth, and 300 million US residents demand integrity in their President.

Now you may think that this is a minor, superficial thing. A generation addicted to the IPod may not be aware that artifical amplification is never used in classical music. We, however, think that this is just one more example of a man who has carefully presented a manufactured image to the electorate, a man who is obsessed with controlling everything the public sees and hears. We think it is fitting that this controversy centers on music written by the most famous movie composer of all time. The question is are we going to have a real President or just a man that plays one on TV?

PRESIDENTIAL PARANOIA

We have not warmed to President Obama yet. Having spent much of our life in the San Francisco Bay area, we remember the cult followings of Reverend Sun Myung Moon and the People’s Temple Jim Jones. From the Iowa Democratic Primary campaign to Tuesday’s mega Woodstock that was the inauguration, we have been reluctant to jump on the Obama bandwagon. It’s not that we don’t long for a President than can renew our enthusiasm for the promise that is America. It’s just that we don’t really believe in love at first sight. After all we married the girl next door whom we had known since we were 14.

We have watched President Obama as closely as if he had just started dating our only daughter. After all, we just met him a little over year ago, for us a too brief courtship. Frankly we don’t know much more about him now than we did a year ago…nice looking chap, good education, well spoken, but questionable antecedents and associations and, above all, few accomplishments. Nonetheless, the wedding is over, the American people have made this unknown suitor our President. The fact that he is now part of the family does not mean he has proved himself yet. We are encouraged by the quickness and decisiveness of his actions. He has already issued executive orders to close Guantanamo and end torture, actions we applaud. However, we witnessed something yesterday, that gave us our first glimpse of the real man behind the hype.

During a swearing in ceremony of White House staffers, Vice President Joseph Biden, when asked to adminster the oath, joked about Chief Justice John Roberts’ well publicized gaff during the inaugural. President Obama grabbed his arm, whispered something into his ear, and stepped back, the familiar smile completely gone. We’ve seen puppies that soiled the carpet corrected less severely. Poor Joe Biden is in for a long stretch. Later that day Chief Justice Roberts would be summoned to the White House to readminster the Presidential oath in a fit of presidential paranoia unseen since the Nixon administration. What may be just a footnote in Presidential history (it’s been done twice before without much notice) has offered us a glimpse of Obama’s modus operandi.

• First, there was an orchestrated effort to control the media’s portrayal of the event. Only four members of the press were allowed to view the redo swearing in. No video was allowed, though audio of the event has surfaced. It is unclear if said audio was authorized.
• Second, a carefully worded press release deemed the redo not required, but undertaken, “…out of an abundance of caution…” Today, in his first press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, repeated the “abundance of caution” mantra several times. He might have said, “just in case” or “to be sure”, but he didn’t, signaling that future responses to the press will be carefully scripted by the Obama inner circle.
  

We hope that what looks like paranoia is, in fact, an abundance of caution, and that President Obama will continue to act forcefully and not be paralyzed by an obsession to control all around him. In the meantime, we would love to have that body language expert from the Bill O’Reilly show assess that arm grabbing move. Around here, if you grab your kid or wife like that, you’ll end up in family court.