Barack Obama has his own television channel!

Jarred and I don't have television, by choice, unlike our internet situation. This means that when I am around television, I get the uncontrollable urge to flip through as many channels as possible, in hopes to catch up on what I may have been "missing." I generally find that I am disgusted with what is on television and that I'm not missing much. However, last night, my television experience proved to be full of surprises. 

First off, I was totally baffled to find out that Paris Hilton has a show on MTV called My New BFF (or something of that sort). Intrigued by the show's title, I immediately flipped to MTV and settled down to see what a BFF was. I quickly learned that a BFF was a Best Friend Forever. Hmmm, how would one pick their best friend on a television show? Doesn't sound too exciting as it takes years to develop a best friend, right? WRONG! In Paris's world, a BFF can be chosen in a mere 1/2 hour. Of course there are stipulations; best friends cannot be ugly, must be anorexic, wear enough mascara to cause Cover Girls stock to skyrocket despite these hard times, and they must be as simple minded and mentally inept as Paris Hilton. No wonder it only takes 1/2 hr! I have now lost all respect for MTV and what I believed the channel represented and I now know why my high school students think it's ok to abbreviate everything, u know? 

Baffled, I went back to the good ole' satellite guide to see what other crap I could find. As I grudgingly clicked through the channels, I realized I was wasting precious hours of my life and was about to turn the television off when I came upon a channel devoted solely to Barack Obama. I have to admit, I was surprised that this was even an option, could candidates really purchase their own cable channels? I guess if they can fundraise like Barack, anything can happen. I decided to settle in to see what I could learn about the candidate. 

After about 15 minutes of listening to Michelle Obama's mother talk about her daughter's childhood and Barack and Michelle talk about how they met, I came to the conclusion that Barack has hired some fantastic marketing professionals. Not only is he plastered all over the web, but they've even catered to the television watching crowd, those who wish to become familiar with the candidate, but more on a Paris Hilton level. These television watchers don't want to know about Obama's policies, they want to know how he fell in love, who his mom was, that he plays UNO with his daughters. Only once in the half hour I watched the channel did I hear any mention of what Obama would do for our nation. I was able to find out more about where Obama stood on the economy by reading the first paragraph on his web page. While I'm excited to hear that more and more people are voting this year, it frightens me to think about why they're voting. I also decided that television watching is not for me. I'll stick to NetFlix where at least I can have a choice in my own depravity. 

Enough for now, I'm going to go put on my Barack Obama tee-shirt and head outside to enjoy the sun.