Hiya. I was going to take a full one month break and show up again on June 1, but well, I guess this is how breaks cure writer's block.
Remember that annoying guy that does that really good impression of John Madden? His name is Frank Caliendo or something like that and his commercials were run about every three minutes during the NFL playoffs.
Recently, I've been noticing a new (well, new to me - DVR changes everything) commercial of his where he impersonates the president in an effort to sell...well, something. Dish Network, maybe? And as you might expect, he behaves like an idiot, gives that silly little Bush smirk/grin and just generally echoes all of the general criticisms of our 43rd president. While Frank whatever his name is really does an excellent impression, and I don't really like the president any more than anyone else, this doesn't really sit right with me.
Apparently, I think it's important to respect the office even if you don't really respect the president. It's one thing to tell jokes with your friends and even for a sketch show to have a 'guy' assigned to impersonate the president for a laugh. But for a business to use the stereotype as a shill? If you met the president (say you were an NCAA champ!), you wouldn't, say, throw water balloons at him, would you? I imagine it would be kind of fun in the short term, but that's a pretty big middle finger to your country, no? Let's just hope we're not really that much of a joke yet.
