So, Jack White performed "Mother Nature's Son" at the White House. Not my favorite rendition of it ever--Jack's voice is great in other contexts, but doesn't quite work here for me--but still a particularly gutsy move, when you consider who's in the audience (look to the President's right at about 1:45):
What better evidence than "Patriot Act renewed".
Parenthetically, you want to know what's destroying our way of life? It's not Healthcare Reform, (which would save lives and money and infringe your freedoms not at all), and it's not the fiscal stimulus (which even Republican economists agree helped keep unemployment from growing and the economy from slowing even more than it has), it's the continuous encroachment of the law-enforcement elements of our government on our civil liberties under the guise of making us safer. It is the intelligence agencies conspiring with communication companies to relieve us of our right to privacy using warrantless surveillance who are then let off the hook for breaking the law. It is our willingness to approve of immoral acts done in our name.
Unfortunately, we haven't left most of those things behind by electing Obama, and we're not even getting appropriate levels of bread and circuses in compensation.
It would be easy for people of a certain mindset to assume, given the last 8 years, that The Daily Show is simply a liberal outlet, happy to roll over and play dead now that there's a Democrat in the White House.
The very evening of the Inauguration, they went to work to dispel that, neatly skewering Obama's speech and it's use of language that sounds, in many instances, reminiscent of Bush's speeches:
[Old media player link rotted, sorry]
I find this heartening for a couple of reasons. First, I am allergic to sycophants, so I would have to stop watching the show. Second, this suggests that what The Daily Show is for is good government. That is something that will always need watchdogs, even after disposing of the heedless incompetence of the Bush administration.
Sorry, with all of the "Fear of teh Negro" crap that have been let fly of late, making a Public Enemy reference seems my patriotic duty.
I am still hopeful that North Carolina will break for Obama--I don't want there to be any question that Obama has a mandate to do what needs doing. Every electoral vote will make the message that much less deniable.