Surprise! Obama is NOT Superman

During the past few weeks, being the comic book geek that I am, I imagined now would be the perfect time for Superman. He's plug up that erupting volcano so air traffic in Europe would not be disrupted and for an afternoon follow-up, he'd stop the oil from flowing into the Gulf. But guess what? Superman is not real. And guess what else, America--Barack Obama is not going to find a convenient supply closet in the White House and switch into his super-suit and fly down to the New Orleans to stop the leak all by himself. I believe a lot of people think he has the power to do it, but is just being lazy going off the fundraisers for Barbara Boxer. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but there were unrealistic expectations for Obama. So many were so relieved he wasn't Bush, they thought he could do anything. "Hey, he's un-Bush-Man! That's just as good as Superman!"

The ironic thing is the oil spill is not Obama's fault, but he's going to get the blame for it because it happened on his watch. What every rock-dumb American voter angry with the President does not realize is that this situation and the financial crisis and quite a few other crises were caused by his predecessor--if not W directly that the philosophy of the Republican Party, which is the less government interference in big business, the better. So Bush and his dad and Ronnie had been dismantling regulations to keep companies like BP from indulging in risky behaviour. As a result, we get lax safety standards, and big oil spills. Drill, baby, drill, indeed. I hope Sarah and Rudy can sleep at night after having chanted that dumb slogan. Maybe they will wake up to find an oil-coated pelican in their beds.

What's really ironic is Obama will get the blame and we'll have a Repub Congress and President who will push for even less regulation. These Tea Partiers want no government in their lives--and this is the direct result. People like Rand Paul are popular in Kentucky and states like that because they preach that junk--I heard he was named for Ayn Rand which makes sense since she believed if you had the right philosophy and were talented and smart enough and looked like Gary Cooper, it was perfectly all right to blow up a building if it offended your aesthetic sensibility. (Fountainhead reference)

Now it looks like the oil will continue flowing into August until they can finish drilling a second hole to relieve the pressure. I have a bad feeling Obama will become associated with this just like Carter became synonomous with the Iran hostage crisis. Then the repubs will cast some white knight--literally--to ride in to the rescue and then we'll find out he's not Superman either. Or if it's Sarah Palin, that she's not Wonder Woman.

The Amazing Race 16--Episode 11 and Finale

It's been weeks since TAR 16 ended and even longer since I've written a blog on that show, or anything else for that matter. BTW, I know tonight is the last episode of Lost and I could give less than a flying fig as Dorothy said on that episode of the Golden Girls when she was waiting for a call from her married lover played by Jerry Orbach. For the past two months I have been rushing from one show to another and from one award event to the next. When the Broadway season ends, everyone gives out endless awards. Tonight is the latest of these, the Drama Desk Awards and I will be taking a train from upstate to the city to attend. I will write more about that in the next blog, but for now I fell compelled to wrap up my reactions to the latest Amazing Race.

Episode 11 began in Shanghai where the cheapskate producers confided the racers to the same city as the previous leg rather than have them fly to another city. The idea was basically for the four teams to battle it out for the final three slots. Team Such As actually stepped up their game and did an excellent job. Caite mastered her counting skills and they lucked out with a good cab driver while the gay-straight brothers had the worst one on the whole race--though it was kind of ridic of Dan to think they would find an English-speaking driver in China. As Mrs. Gibbs said in Our Town, there are people in the world who don't talk in English and don't even want to. The Undercover Cops had the extremely difficult Speed Bump of tossing coins into the mouth of an idol. Why don't they just call it the Millisecond Delay and be more accurate! I am sick of these ultra-easy speed bumps. In fact, this whole race has been like the dumbed-down version. (More on that in the next episode) So I have to give credit to Team Such As. I admit it, they are not as dumb as they look.

But in the final episode all their hard work was for naught. With the cops gone, it was pretty much anybody's game. But Dan and Jordan totally turned it up a notch. Their strategy was to be meek little twinks, not be a threat, and just get to the final three. Then push everyone out of the way and cross the finish line. I wouldn't have butted ahead of the cowboys at the Shanghai airport, but Jordan knew there would be nothing the cowboys could do about it since hitting another team is grounds for expulsion. On the flight to San Francisco, they sneaked into first class. In previous episodes, it was revealed teams are not allowed to fly in anything other than tourist. But I guess the technicality is that Dan and Jordan bought their tickets in economy and where they actually sit doesn't matter (????)

I think the gay-straight brothers really wanted to win badly and it showed in their determination in the final leg. The claws were out and they didn't care who got scratched. Team Such As reverted to whiny adolescents when they drew a bad cabbie ("Oh this is so unfair!") and were basically out of the running as soon as they got off the plane. That left the cowboys and the brothers and the latter were just hungrier than Jet and Cord. The final memory challenge had to be the easiest ever. Remember when they had to get the flags of the countries they visited in order? That was HARD. And the one with the various items from the challenges having to weight exactly the right amount? This time all they had to do was remember who got eliminated in which leg.

The finish line finale was totally ruined for me with the bitch fight between Caite and Brandy (or was it Carol?) That has NEVER happened before on an Amazing Race finale when a THIRD-PLACE finisher has an argument with a losing rival. It was obviously for ratings since Caite is pretty and popular. It was awful and embarassing and took away the spotlight from the winners--Dan and Jordan. It's their triumph, their moment in the sun should not be eclipsed by a stupid grudge match. Brandy made an absolute fool of herself. She should have just said, "It's over. You got to the Uturn first, it's a game and you did want you had to do to get ahead." Plus they got a quote from ANOTHER loser--the Big Brother guy Jeff. Who cares what he thinks? He lost...BIG TIME!!! Again it was for ratings. Lots of people watch Big Brother so they needed to give that team some airtime beyond cheering on the winners. I thought Emmy winning Amazing Race was better than that. And BTW, screw you Donald Trump with your sour-grapes over losing the Emmy every time. Get over it.

Overall, this was an exciting season and the best part was that a single team did not dominate. Last season that blonde couple came in first something like seven times. It was pretty clear they would win the big prize. This time the cowboys and the police won the most, but they made plenty of mistakes too. So it could have been anybody and it was great that an underdog team like Dan and Jordan surged ahead at the end.

Day 18--Still in Shanghai, find bridge, count statues, find stamp, really hard stuff

Day 19--fly to San Francisco

Day 20--final leg

Dan and Jordan--BIG WINNERS, $1,000,000 plus one previous win, loot: two motorbikes
Jet and Cord--four wins, Loot: two sailboats, trip to Patagonia, trip to Maui, trip to Alaska
Louie and Michael--three wins, Loot: two Discover Cards worth $5,000 each, two 55-inch HD TVs, trip to Cancun
Branden and Caite--one win, Loot: trip to Spain
Jeff and Jordan--one win, Loot: trip to Vancouver
Steve and Allie--one win, Loot: $7,000 each, relaxing dinner and massage on the beach and "all the 7-Up they can drink"