The President’s Poets

First of all, let me say, I hate poetry.  All of it.  I don’t get it.  What’s the point, you got a story to tell, tell it, and be done with it.  Reading or hearing a bunch of silly, pseudo-romantic, self-important, rambling  examples of  verbal masturbation about nothing; sheer pointless twaddle strung together, but going nowhere, pisses me off.  I will admit to an affinity for Dr. Seuss; no wasted words, there.  Lyricists,  rappers, and even jingle writers  know how to tell a freakin’  tale and get it over with.  And, though some people say Shakespeare was a poet, I think of him as a playwright, a story-teller, not an aimless word-spinning thought wanderer.  To tell you the truth, when I am confronted with the

“Oh, though a man be a duck

The shitting bird screeches

Teach water of the sun

Still my gums from violet”

crowd, my eyes start to bleed.  That being said…

Didja know the Associated Press held an “Ode to Obama” inaugural poem contest, and that a man from Gilbert Arizona, Ted Newman, won one of ten finalist spots?  Betcha didn’t.  You can find the entries here.  Don’t know why you would want to, but there it is.  Obama’s choice, a former fellow University of Chicago faculty member,  Elizabeth Alexander, who declined AP’s contest invitation, will read her original, official inaugural poem Tuesday.  The Venus Hottentot, one of Alexander’s most famous poems, about a South African woman, Saartjie Baartman, put on public display in life and death for European amusement, follows:

Obama Pimps The Press

First he takes them to dinner, then, he drops by for a visit.  Then, it’ll be time for his “bitches” to pay.  In the midst of his pre-inauguration David Axelrod designed, Astroturf manure-spreading press push, President-elect Barack Obama made nice with the gushing, quivering, sycophantic pseudo-journalists of the Washington Post, who have already publicly admitted their unprofessional love.  According to reports, legs were appropriately set a-tingling, considering their integrity-deficient kinship with their inordinately helpful brother in shlock.  Anyway, the unseemly hoopla was duly recorded by the diligent WaPo “journalists,” like Chris Cizilla:

President-elect Barack Obama has arrived at the Washington Post for an interview with the editorial board and White House team — including The Fix!

WaPo later reported on New York Times reporter Helene Cooper’s pool report, as did Politico’s Michael Calderone.  Got that?

After three and a half hours at his transition office, PEOTUS obama took another 6 minute ride through washington, arriving at 157 pm at the nondescript soviet-style building at 15th and L street that houses the washington post.

Around 100 people–Post reporters perhaps?–awaited PEOTUS’s arrival, cheering and bobbing their coffee cups.

Pool is holding in a van outside, while Mr obama does his washington post interview, and will exercise enormous restraint by ending report before saying what really thinks about this turn of events.

Helene Cooper
The New York Times

Calderone speculates that Cooper’s snarkiness is a result of the Times’ petulance at not yet getting a traditional pre-inaugural interview.  WaPo’s David Nakamura also relates the euphoria attendant to the Obamessiah’s descent among the unworthy:

Barack Obama visited the Washington Post to meet the editorial board and national staff, but his tour of the 5th floor newsroom nearly stopped the presses.

Staff writers, photographers, editors and employees from other departments lined the hallway after word spread that the President-elect would be walking through the newroom.

At about 3:15 p.m., Obama entered through a back hallway and began shaking hands, as professional newsmen and women reached over to shake his hand and take pictures. Obama was trailed by advisor David Axelrod, assistant Reggie Love, Post Chairman Donald Graham, Publisher Katharine Weymouth and Editor Marcus Brauchli.

Calderone further chronicles the resultant media hysteria, and the expressions of mock outrage issued by indignant WaPo staffers disputing the “cheering loonies” (my take) characterization…

“There’s no reason to think there were any reporters cheering,” said a Washington Post spokesperson, adding that there are “a lot of people who work in the Post building who don’t work in the Post newsroom.” Of course, those cheering could also have been bystanders gathered outside.

…but Ed Driscoll’s site provides a quote from the same WaPo broken link to a Howard Kurtz article Politico and the Post provided:

Camera phones flashed as Obama, trailed by Post Co. chief executive Donald Graham, began his stroll around the fifth-floor newsroom’s perimeter, shaking hands and greeting nearly 200 staffers.

Inside, as Obama finally came full circle around the warren of offices and cubicles, he declared: “All right, back to work!” And he had correctly analyzed the situation: All work in The Post newsroom had stopped.

Driscoll also left us a reminder of another example of Obama Porn (obscenely obsessive ObamaLove) from the primaries, featured in the following video.  When will somebody tell this guy there’s more to being president than spokesmodeling?  Then again, maybe there isn’t.

Dear President Pepsi

This video can be found on the Pepis “Refresh Everything” site, here.  Pepsi, one of Obam’s largest sponsors, whose CEO, Indra Nooyi, was part of his finance committee, and whose already Obama-reminiscent logo has been redesigned to be even moreso, is launching a new ad campaign with an inaugural tie in.  From CNSNews:

Pepsi is running a new advertising campaign that keys into the upcoming inauguration – one that features a re-designed corporate logo that mimics the distinctive Obama “O” campaign logo, and refers to the president-elect as “the man who is about to refresh our nation.”

Pepsi is also partnering with Spike Lee and Howard University to hold a “Refresh the World” symposium on Martin Luther King day, featuring, Lee, Sean Combs, Arianna Huffington, Queen Latifah, Michelle Rhee, Rev. Al Sharpton and Dr. Cornel West among others.  From PRNewswire:

Pepsi is partnering with Spike Lee and Howard University for the “Refresh the World” Symposium to address issues ranging from the economy to Black America and more. Leading experts on education, economy, gender, hip hop and Black America will help mark the start of the new Presidency by raising their voices to “Refresh the World.”

Limited free tickets are available for D.C. area university students (e.g., Georgetown, GW, American, Gallaudet, Catholic), and on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Howard University box office.

Pepsi’s support of this event is part of its brand re-launch around the ideas of hope, positive change and active participation, through forums, out-of-home communications, television and digital communications. Please let us know if you would like additional details about the event.

Actually, Obama’s logo looks like a cross between Pepsi’s and AT&T’s, one of the companies Obama’s ventriloquist, David Axelrod “lobbies” for.

NOTE: There was a series of “Dear Mr. Obama” videos issued during the general election by weneedmccain, but I’m guessing they’re not related to the Pepsi ones.