First shameful admission: I watch television. This despite a lack of faith in it's ability to provide uplifting, satisfying, edifying entertainment. The odd exceptions do not add up to a rule.
Second shameful admission: I watch Survivor. I have plenty of rationalizations to throw your way if you're interested, but I personally don't believe there's much good about it. I am entertained passively for an hour, which, coming as it does after the end of a long working day, dinner, clean up, kids' homework, kids' whining, kids' fights and so on, and before the next couple of hours of work before bed, that is all I want. See? I told you I had rationalizations! But did you see Hillary on it last night...? (MORE)
Okay, I can't find a transcript, but Natalie Bolton spent last night's episode mugging for the camera, manipulating poor, naive Jason into getting himself voted off, and... enjoying it! In fact, she was downright annoying, with her smug little smile, little giggles, and claiming that she really enjoys being so ruthless. Maybe she just understands the bread and circuses aspect of mindless entertainment, or maybe she's just one absolutely annoying (insert expletive here). I don't know.
What I do know is that the premise behind Survivor is that the winner gets $1 million by surviving, not by living well, not by building bridges, not by raising people up, not by having the community succeed. No, in fact, they win by participating in killing off the rest of the community. Good for them.
But as I watched last night, I couldn't help feel that Natalie was channeling Hillary, or perhaps Mark Penn helped her before the show, I don't know. But it brought something home to me: whoever wins the presidency is expected to raise people up, raise our living standards, build bridges to all communities, and make America the success it ought to be on all levels that matter. If you want to know why I won't vote for Hillary, check out last night's episode. Conversely, if you want to know why I think we need a President Obama, check out the last few episodes. It is an object lesson in Clinton politics, and what it's likely to bring.