"Mikey Angels" flies off in both directions at once

The expression we've all heard is "you can't be too rich or too thin." I suppose that gets said a lot around the tennis court at the country club, the changing room at Sak's? I suppose it draws a wry smile every time. Or is it really said in the aisles at Target by people who are at no risk of being too much of either?

The expression we've never heard is "you can't be too smart," because we all know it is possible to be too smart. Kind of ironic since we spend a lot of energy trying to force kids to be smart. We pound them with homework, make them take tests, tell them the kids in Mumbai are going to take your future job. We try to get them into the best schools, the ones for the smart people, but they are always at risk of becoming "too smart for their own good."

Based on what I've heard about last weekend's Presidential candidate activity, Obama is running the risk of being too smart for his own good. He and McCain did these long interviews with Rick Warren, the "Purpose Driven Life" guy. (A huge success, I know, but a fully unreadable book for me.) Upshot of it all for some pundits - Barack sounds like a constitutional law professor when he answers questions. Funny how that can happen when you are a constitutional law professor. McCain, on the other hand, comes off simple, no gray areas, just a regular guy. I know for a lot of people, when it comes down to it, they just don't trust that guy who comes off too smart. If Obama wants to succeed, he needs to get a little dumber.

Meanwhile, I went over to Obama's web site to check out the "sign up to get texted when the VP is picked." I noticed the prominence on the site of the 16 - count 'em - 16! social networking sites the campaign is using. Not just MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn, but a ton more that I've never even heard of. Over on the McCain home page, no sign of any social networking, even though he does have a MySpace page. This leads to an interesting comparison - Obama's MySpace shows he has 451,933 friends, McCain's has 63,485. Not exactly a scientific poll, but there's some meaning there. Talk about your "digital divide."

Kind of interesting to look through the people who have requested, and been accepted, to be MySpace friends to these prominent guys. (I assume there's some team of campaign interns who spend all day just dealing with these social networking sites.) On just the first page of Obama's friend list you'll see a guy with angel wings and women showing off their cleavage or their tramp stamp. Over on McCain's page, you'll see he has friends called "Sexy Gershom" and "The Bri Man." No tramp stamps visible, and all his friends seem to really be into cars. And wait - there's the guy with the angel wings again! He's friends with both candidates! He's either a real slut, or he's trying to get a bill passed. But I repeat myself.

I think I have found an enduring entertainment to carry me through the rest of this campaign.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Hey genius, did it ever occur to you that when both McCain and Obama made their myspace pages that they both did as much viral random adding as possible? And that being that your guy is from the UK that he should really give two hoots which US election front runner is on his friends list?
Barry Martin said…
No, anonymous, that never would have occurred to me because I have no idea what "viral random adding" is. Did it ever occur to you that I'm still entertained even if I don't care about "viral random adding?" Can't we all just get along?
Anonymous said…
We can get along, Barry Martin, when you concede that people in the UK who frequent popular networking sites are hardly likely to play that big of a part in the outcome of the US presidency and being that I personally have received ad requests from everyone from The Hoff to Satan himself, I wouldn't worry to much about the loyalty or representing aspect. I also think the misogynistic way in which you refer to glamor models is disgusting. Those "tramps" appear to make more money, have a bigger audience, and make more people happier than you do. So lofty up there on your high horse, for one so lowly and shallow in thought.
Barry Martin said…
Wow, anonymous, who peed in your Post Toasties?

I concede that people in the UK on MySpace etc will not influence the election. My point was more about the contrasts between the BO and McCain campaigns, their use of the networking sites as a tool, and the apparent "star power" of Obama in that forum. That's all.

As far as tramp stamps are concerned, I don't know if I was seeing "glamour models" or not. But when a woman's profile photo is of the tattoo on her lower back, or of her cleavage, there is an implied sexual message. I see a lot of males who feature an equally overt message with their photos. I don't really care what these people do, the point (again) was the contrast between the people I saw as "friends" to Obama and those I saw as "friends" to McCain. An observation, that's all.

"Lowly and shallow in thought"? Gee, anonymous, that hurts. I knew I was lowly but never felt shallow before. Thanks for straightening me out.
Anonymous said…
Don't feed the trolls, Barry...or in this case, troll. :)
Anonymous said…
Hey Anonymous, if the real Anonymous wanted your opinion, he'd ask Barry for it, ok? Don't you just love it when people with no opinion, persuasion, direction or inclination feel the righteous indignation required to voice that lack of opinion? It almost makes political blogs that nobody reads worthwhile.
Anonymous said…
I thought the term "tramp stamp" was very shallow of you, Barry. Especially when you made said comments to appear not shallow, thus rendering you so shallow that you'd need arm bands to swim in your gene pool. Sex selling and garnering the time and attention of males (not mentioning any particular blogger's name or anything) is nothing new. It's route one marketing tactics. Maybe you should blame the game and not the pawn, Barry. The industry rather than the half dressed girl and maybe, just maybe, the pervert instead of the perversion. Who peed in my cereal? You did. I find the flagrant way in which you fling your opinion and other people's names and reputations and images around for the sake of a weak point which your ill considered lack of research epically fails to consolidate rather offensive. Above all, I don't like seeing my friends and associates becoming blog fodder for the quiet guy in the office cubicle who has trouble speaking in the real world before real people to bolster some of self esteem through the medium of internet. You're not big, you're not clever and not you're better than those you pretentiously (and often insultingly) sneer at. Revise.
Barry Martin said…
OK, anonymous, (no, not you, the other one)I can see the concentration lines on your face of serious indignation. This is not the first time, and probably won't be the last, when all we can do is heave a sigh as the person lacking a sense of humor sucks all the air out of the room. Your disapproval has been noted. May I suggest that you switch to decaf?
Anonymous said…
Hey, Barry, I'll switch to decaf when you switch to interesting, lo-imbecile and doofus-lite, hmmmmk? Act today and you could ten years to your amazing life! Think about it! That's ten more years of these intriguing attention magnetizing blogs of yours full of your incessant anal retentive whining about the ever critical, epoch-making significance of how many pic comments the new pres might rack up. It's nice to know that in this climate of political change that the average American is staying...Well, average.
Bryce said…
Only three comments deserve notation here: 1. If Obama is so smart, why is he a liberal? 2. If we have the Bible, why do we need Rick Warren? 3. Who would want or care to look at a politician's Facebook page in the first place?
Anonymous said…
It absolutely not agree with the previous message
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