state of the "union"

i watched the President's state of the union address last night. and it made me somewhere in between sad and pissed. the speech itself, i thought, was very good. i still believe in Barack Obama, and i thought he delivered a great message.

what upset me was the behavior of just about everyone else in the room... am i the only one who thought it was childish???

i'm talking about republicans who sat on their hands defiantly, determined to maintain a look of contempt no matter what the President said. seriously, i think he could have told them, "i believe in this nation, i believe that the grand canyon is miraculous, and i believe that everyone here tonite will get a free double scoop of ice cream when they leave the building! SURPRISE!!!" ...and they STILL would have stonewalled him. sitting there with their arms folded-- "harumph!" --like they were all mad at joe wilson for shouting "you lie!" before they got a chance to do so themselves. "summamabitch stole my thunder!"

but i'm also talking about democrats, who gave EVERY other thing the President said a standing ovation! again, i really loved what the man had to say, but, y'know... let him say it, for the love of pete! after awhile, it dawned on me that these men and women might not have even been listening to President Obama. that they were just waiting for him to take a breath so they could stand up and holler again, which, now that i think of it, could have been a little embarrassing...

President Obama: "we need to change the healthcare system in this country be-- OW! dammit, i just got a paper cut..."
Democrats: "HOORAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!"
Pres: "no, i- i'm serious, this really stings..."
Dems: "W'HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
Pres: "could somebody get me a band-aid...?"
Dems: "HUZZAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

honestly, it seemed like, on either side of the aisle, instead of listening to our commander in chief, everyone was too busy posing for the cameras...

"well, THEY'RE not going to clap for ANYthing, so i'm gonna jump up and shout every chance i get! THAT'LL show 'em!"
"well, THEY'RE just falling ALL over themselves applauding, so i'm just going to sit here with my hands in my pockets! THAT'LL show 'em!"

really. enough. we're living in much too serious a time in this country not to be led by serious people. it's time to stop playing games, and start behaving like adults. or, is that too much to ask?

look... i'm going to suggest something for the leaders of our nation, but before i do, i'm just going to admit it: it's dumb. i know it's dumb. it's a stupid suggestion, and i know it won't solve any of our countless and major problems, but, i'll also tell you this... i'm not kidding.

the next time they're sitting in front of a speech given by the President of the United States, i'm going to suggest three little words for every democrat, and every republican...

Remember The Titans.

in the movie 'remember the titans', denzel washington has been named head coach of a racially dived football team in the 1960's. two buses are taking them to their training camp. all the white players hop on one bus, while all the black players get on the other. denzel takes everyone out of their seats and tells them, "listen up, i don't care if you're black, green, blue, white or orange, i want all of my defensive players on this side, all of my offensive players over here." he then points out the bus for the defense, and the one for the offense, and tells the white and black players to sit next to each other.

sit next to each other... i mean, why not? instead of having the republicans on one side of the room, and the democrats on the other side, where's the harm? it's not like a fistfight's gonna break out, is it?

...is it?!

......probably not, so, assuming we can avoid that worst-case scenario, hey, why not? no, it's not going to magically get everyone together, singing songs about rainbows, but i'd like to see it nonetheless. think of it as a symbolic gesture-- we can tell the world that, yes, while we have disagreements on a great number of issues, we ARE still united. we ARE still on the same team, we ARE still Americans. all of us.

last night reminded me more of the cliques in my high school cafeteria than anything i've ever seen on 'glee'. and i'm tired of it. i thought it was pathetic. we can't keep going around in circles like this... it's gotta start somewhere. so, why not force these men and women to actually sit down next to each other?

who knows? maybe a camera might catch a few of them shaking hands.

the five things i fell in love with today...

1) that i'm feeling good enough to go into work tomorrow. i've had the flu for the better part of the week, which actually hasn't been as bad as listening to the soda guy scream into his phone for the past two days.
2) my friends and relatives who love me in spite of our political differences... you know who you are!
3) the reminder of what my mom used to tell me: "if you want to be treated like an adult, then act like one."
4) only FIVE more days until the season premiere of LOST!!!! can't wait!!!
5) tater tots.

song of the night...
"jack-ass" by beck

movie of the night...
"remember the titans" i very much dig this movie, although, i think it suffered greatly from the whole 'patch adams' thing-- trying to force sentiment at the end of a film with something truly ridiculous. really, i don't care how somber you are when you're singing, "na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye..." it's just not something i want to hear at a funeral.