NP - Norah Jones: My Dear Country

[Daniel Julius]

On Dec 12, 2007 11:37 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> On the whole this is a pretty shallow article.  This statement in the
> article is wrong in its essence:
>
> "Demographers paint a picture of a somewhat melancholic, acutely
> dissatisfied and to some extent bitter nation. And while many would
> lay the blame at the feet of the country's unpopular president, George
> W. Bush, American frustration goes far beyond the current occupant of
> the White House."
>
> The reason this is wrong is that all of the ills making Americans
> dissatisfied listed further on in the article are because of the
> actions of the current unpopular president:  incompetence of
> government agencies, stagnating economy, the failed Iraq (& Afghan)
> war, low dollar value, US moving in "wrong direction" - ALL of these
> are directly the fault of Bush.  The US isn't in some ill-defined
> pessimism.  It is in the grip of an unpopular president who refuses to
> admit he's ever wrong, and won't change course no matter how much the
> country wants him to.  THAT'S why we're depressed.  It's that simple.
>
> David Morris



 Haha, I agree, and I think it's funny that he writes, "the country's
unpopular president, George W. Bush," as if you might not know who the
United States' president is right now.  ("Oh, it says here Bush is the
president, honey; wonder what happened to Roosevelt?")  And I don't think
that sentiment belies cultural elitism or anything, either, I'm just saying
he's so widely-reviled on the global scene, what person, educated enough to
be reading this article, and for that matter, what *German* reading that
article, doesn't know who the US president is??

I often feel that phrases like that are unconscious padding on the part of
the journalist to fill out otherwise weak articles.  Or at least gross
miscalculations of perceived audience  Which sentiments I believe fall sort
of in line w/ your thoughts about this essays's value, David...  either way
it made me chuckle

--
Dan
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