Politics

Dave Eggers' Crappy "90 Days, 90 Reasons" Site Strikes Again

|

Earlier this week we told you about a pro-Obama website started by literary luminary Dave Eggers. The site is titled 90 Days, 90 Reasons, its mission is to provide 90 "daily reasons—concrete, factual, plain—to re-elect Barack Obama…[and] likely outcomes of a Romney presidency"; and thus far, the bulk of its commentary has been written by famous people who do not follow the news, like Oscar-nominated poverty tourist Jesse Eisenberg. 

Today's entry is even better than its predecessors. It describes the exact moment that Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) realized President Obama is made of flesh and blood and hair, and is not a Connecticut robot in King Arthur's yurt (like our last president).

No, seriously: "Obama is not a robot" is the "concrete, factual, plain" reason Dave Eggers is giving Team Blue players to climb out of the ice tub, lace up their cleats, and do whatever activity this metaphor might use as a substitute for voting "D." 

Don't believe me? Here's Jim James performing "REASON 10: BARACK OBAMA IS NOT A ROBOT":

"Ok, who's ready to get their picture taken with the president?" This is what the no-nonsense Secret Service agent asked several of us. We had just walked offstage after performing at the national Christmas tree lighting ceremony, held every year since 1923 in President's Park, just south of the White House. I was honored to have been chosen in 2010 to sing perhaps my favorite Christmas standard, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," accompanied beautifully by the U.S. Coast Guard Band. Talk about surreal — but I had a really nice time and thought the performance went well, considering the level of stress that comes with a high-profile event like that.

The red carpet must have been 1000 miles long -- at least it seemed 1000 miles long to me as I strolled down the path -- but when I reached the end, the pomp and circumstance seemed to fall away, and there were two real people there, real people who reached out, gave me a big hug, and said thanks for coming … and just like most everything that comes out of their mouths, you could tell they really meant it. They were no longer the President and First Lady there in that tent. They were REAL. Somehow in those three minutes they made me feel at ease and conveyed the truth of the human experience: that no one is any better or worse than anyone else.

Standing there getting our picture taken … it was SO strange, being this close to a real live president. I thought of all the times I had seen him on TV, especially election night in 2008 -- watching with tears in my eyes as the Obama family took the stage after winning the election, thinking to myself what so many others were thinking: "Finally!!! Sweet justice! A real live person is our president! Who has a real live family and a loving relationship with his wife! A president that does not seem like an evil robot!!!" What a revelation it was. And standing right next to them, that feeling was confirmed to me even deeper -- that these were real people who know what it is like to live real life and deal with real struggles that ordinary Americans face every day. What an incredible thing to see and feel after watching way too many wealthy, out-of-touch presidents and their families take office.. Here was something in politics that finally made sense to me and so many others.

Only 80 more days of weird cult testimonials to go!