Superstar

I finally figured it out.
I have, for a while now, and more often in my head than out loud, refered to the relationship that FOX, Tea Partiers, et al have to President Obama as "he's the star of their show."  But the way to expound on that, if ever I should need to, had eluded me.  It came to me as I was driving to work the other night.

Who was the star of "Superman: The Movie" (1978)?

Obviously, Chrisropher Reeve, right?  Someone might say Gene Hackman.  If they give a list it would probably include Margot Kidder.

But who got top billing?

The surprising answer to that question is Marlon Brando.  Marlon Brando?  Seriously?  Was he even in that movie?  Oh,yeah; he played Superman's real father.  Yeah,that guy.  Top billing seriously?  Musta had a good agent.

Despite having top billing, no one who's seen the movie would ever think of him as the star.  Yes, he played an essential character, but no one would judge the quality of the film based on his performance.  He wasn't even part of the ensemble.

I have friends on Facebook on both the right and the left, and it's interesting to me to see how each side views Presidential power.  Those on the right see President Obama using his power for evil.  One of the things that the right gets ridiculed for is their assertion that things are all going wrong in this country because Obama.  No other explanation needed.
(Facebook is reporting that Obama is closing the Vatican Embassy.  A quick Google search revealed that the Embassy is not closing; it is moving to a place with cheaper rent, better security, and it's closer to work. A lot of people and businesses move for the same reasons.  But Google is obviously wrong because, you know, Obama.)
    Meanwhile, those on the left think he's failing to use his power for good.  The President was speaking at an immigration reform rally recently, and was heckled by a student who asked why he didn't use his executive power to change things.  The President had to remind him that he is constrained by both the Constitution and the balance of powers.  There's only so much he can actually do without the consent of Congress.  It's been pointed out before, usually in discussions about gas prices, that he's the president, not the King of the World.
    I read recently that George Bush was asked what surprised him most about being President.  His answer was, "How little power I actually have."  Of course George Bush didn't have to deal with a Congress where a substantial portion of its members had decided to block everything he wanted to do -- not because they were opposed to the policies in question, but because he was George Bush.  When he was President, the filibuster was a tool to give the minority in the Senate a strong voice.  It was not a weapon to oppose and block anything and everything the President might support like it is now, and has been only in the last five years.  As a result of such tactics, President Obama has been effectively marginalized since just after the passage of the ACA in 2010.  As President, he still gets top billing, but he's no longer the star of the show because all of the action is taking place (or not) in Congress.
    So in my opinion, all the railing against Obama for the last few years has been pretty pointless.  Maybe things will change in 2015, but that's still a year away, and anything can happen between now and then.  In the meantime, pay close attention to what's going on in Congress.  They're the real story, and that's where you'll find the real stars of the show.
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Birth, Death, and the Inadequate Social Media.

My friend Brittany recently had a baby.  Jason was born several weeks early, and for a while it didn't seem he was going to make it.  Brittany was making several anguished Facebook posts about her suffering child, and so many of her friends and family were offering words of support and encouragement.  I was not one of them.  I wanted to be, but I just wasn't.
    This past Saturday night, my friend Michael came home from an outing with friends and found that his boyfriend, also named Jason, had died.  From the second hand information I got from a friend of ours, and a few Facebook posts, we learned that Michael had found Jason wrapped in a blanket on the couch where he had been napping.  Michael is quite devastated.  Again, there was an outpouring of support and condolences from so many friends on Facebook.  I was not one of them.
 Actually, that's not entirely true.  But my attempt looked, at least to me, terribly tacky.  In fact, I have fears that this blog post may make me look terribly tacky because I can't seem to shake the idea that I'm making their pain all about me.
    The problem is that I can't seem to find words when someone I care about is going through pain.  I'm ashamed of that.  I really want to be there for them, but by "be there" I mean actually with them so I can touch them, hug them, hold their hand.  I still probably won't have anything to say, but I'm a good listener, and I have comforting shoulders.  Electronic media just seems so inadequate, and that's exacerbated by my own lack of meaningful verbal expression.
    Michael was in chat last night on Facebook.  I wanted to let him know I was thinking about him, so I found a crying depressed looking emoticon and sent it to him as a message.  When I posted it, it was huge.  When you look at them in the menu, they're about the size of  a 12pt font.  This was like 72 or bigger.  It was awful.  When they're small, you can't see how cheesy they really are.
    I don't know when I'll see Brittany again.  I'll probably see Michael at the funeral.  Till then, I'm wishing my arms could reach out through my computer to say "I love you, and I'm here for you.  And I wish I could make the pain go away."