Barack's Book Club

as someone who is unabashedly against All Things Oprah, i get somewhat annoyed at the praise that is heaped on her book club as though she has singlehandedly saved literature - especially when she chooses classic novels.

now it appears that President-Elect Barack Obama is having a similar effect on readers and publishers alike. admittedly it's a bit hypocritical, but it doesn't bother me as much.

perhaps it's my distaste for a woman i consider to be a self-absorbed phony (quick! how many people have appeared on the cover of o magazine?). maybe it's my love of All Things Obama (is there a Frankenword for that yet? perhaps...Obamadoration?).

or maybe it's that he's a person whose influence is not perception, but reality.

we'd all like to know what makes the most influential among us tick. possibly because somewhere deep inside we would like to emulate them. but it seems less genuine when those same people openly tell us what to do, where to go and how to act.

the grown up in me hears what you're saying...but the kid in me is sticking my fingers in my ears and going "LALALALALALALALALA!!!!!!!!"

remember how great sean "puffy" combs was when he diggin' in the crates and building beats that sounded fresh and new? and remember how quickly puff daddy wore us out by recycling hits of the late '80s and early '90s? there was genius in his mystery. the later stuff may have sold more, but after awhile, it just sounded lazy.

for the time being, President Obama will have bigger worries than what's on his amazon recommendations list. and while the american public looks for an administration with a bit more transparency, this is one instance in which i hope we all have to work a little harder to see what's behind the curtain.