Watching Obama’s emotional farewell address to the nation live on TV I was struck by the warmth and honesty of his speech. Whatever we think of the successes and failures of his presidency (and there have been failures) he seems like a thoroughly decent human being. As to what comes next, well, that’s sure to be an interesting leap in the dark, to say the least.
As Obama left the stage he walked through the crowd for one final goodbye, pressing the flesh and hugging his supporters. The air was thick with iPhones held aloft and most telling of all, the departing President was surrounded by a phalanx of beefy secret servicemen, eyes frantically scanning the hands and faces of the crowd, looking for the slightest hint of someone pulling a gun or other weapon. For some reason I found this profoundly depressing and disturbing. Is this what we’ve come to?
Brexit, Trump, Corbyn, ISIS, Bowie and the rest. As Joe Brown told us as early as 1962, what a crazy world we’re living in
Johnny Concheroo says
Dad’s gone down the dogtrack, mother’s playing bingo…
garyjohn says
It certainly is crazy JC.
And whilst I agree that the heightened level of security surrounding Obama is depressing, the story below is off the dispiriting scale.
I can just about acknowledge that some people take football this seriously, but cricket?
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/jonathan-agnew-and-gary-lineker-cry-foul-over-soiled-toilet-paper-gifts-35333344.html
Johnny Concheroo says
That’s just bizarre. Possibly a candidate for Private Eye’s “Funny Old World” section.
Sewer Robot says
A per centage of the extensive security you see around U.S. presidents is there to guard the case with the nuke codes which is never too far from his side. Obama even had it to hand when he became the first Prez to visit the site of the Hiroshima bombing last year..
mikethep says
Grandad’s swearing at the telly, trying to make the thing go…
That was from memory, the vid wouldn’t work for me – not available.
Actually, I think we came to that in 1963, JC, beefy G-men have been a fact of presidential life ever since. I’ve been watching Designated Survivor on Netflix, in which a minor member of the US government finds himself President after everybody else is wiped out in a gigantic terrorist attack. It’s a paranoid fantasy, to be sure, but it does a good job of showing what ‘real’ life must be like in the White House these days. I’ve been enjoying it, despite the lashings of vomit-inducing West Wing-style music. There are 10 episodes available, 2 to go I think – they’ve been doling them out rather slowly.
I wonder if the threat level to Trump will be considered more or less than Obama’s?
Johnny Concheroo says
The threat is about equal, I’d say. The left have been showing themselves to be just as nuts as the right in recent times.
I’ve recently discovered Netflix. I really enjoyed “The Crown” and have just dipped into “Narcos” featuring the rappers favourite drug baron, Pablo Escobar
garyjohn says
I would have bet money the 2nd verse was ‘sister’s courting on the sofa, you wanna hear the spring go’, but it’s not. Maybe there’s another version …
Johnny Concheroo says
Here’s the lyrics:
The “brown bread” exclamations follow the guitar/banjo solos
Dad’s gone down the dogtrack, Mother’s playin’ bingo
Grandad’s swearin’ at the telly, tryin’ to make the thing go
No one seems to notice me, isn’t it a sin
What a crazy world we’re livin’ in
Now, the old man never talks to me, and when he does, it’s moan
Wash your face, it looks a disgrace, oh, what an ‘appy ‘ome
He says I’m irresponsible, not like when he was young
Then he puts on his cap and coat to watch the greyhounds run
Oh, Dad’s gone down the dogtrack, Mother’s playin’ bingo
Grannie’s boozin’ in the parlour, hic, you oughta see the gin go
No one seems to notice me, isn’t it a sin
What a crazy world we’re livin’ in
Brown bread!
Brown bread!
Mother says I look a yob, me trousers are too tight
She says I ought to get a job and not stay out all night
She doesn’t like my haircut, she says me friends are lousy
And then she says “It’s gettin’ late, can’t miss me ousey-ousey”
Oh, Dad’s gone down the dogtrack, Mother’s playin’ bingo
Sister’s smoochin’ on the sofa, you oughta hear their lingo *
No one seems to notice me, isn’t it a sin
What a crazy world we’re livin’ in
Yay!
Law caught me out thievin’, took me down the nick
The sergeant made out his report, and he laid it on real thick
He said “I’ll fetch your parents”, I answered with a grin
“Save yourself the trouble, mate, you’ll never find ’em in”
‘Cause Dad’s gone down the dogtrack, Mother’s playin’ bingo
Me brothers are all layabouts, all alike by jingo
No one seems to notice me, isn’t it a sin
What a crazy world we’re livin’ in
Yeah, what a crazy world we’re livin’ in
What a crazy world we’re livin’
Three, four, knock at the door
What a crazy world we’re livin’ in
* possible alt. line:
“..you oughta hear the springs go.”
metal mickey says
That “A Picture Of You” album in the YT clip is one of the few LPs my older cousin owned, and as she was my primary babysitter growing up, it was probably one of the first albums I got to know by heart…
The “What A Crazy World” movie is shown fairly regularly on Talking Pictures TV, and is quite the time capsule of early 60’s London, casual racism included… it was written by Alan Klein (including the songs), who looked like he was going to be a new Anthony Newley for a fortnight, but never really did anything else beyond an album “Well At Least It’s British”, which is worth checking out if you’ve a liking for these kind of English comic songs and genre pastiches (including a Dylan spoof) – Damon Albarn is apparently a big fan…
Johnny Concheroo says
I’ve got the Joe Brown LP. It’s on the Pye Golden Guinea label, which was their mid-price imprint.
They sold for one guinea, which was one pound and one shilling (or £1.05 today).
I had to explain to someone what a guinea is/was recently.
http://i.imgur.com/DyHp21n.jpg
Dodger Lane says
I seem to remember that Reagan’s security didn’t manage to spot the guy who shot him back whenever it was though they probably saved him from being fired at again.
Security like that is a way of life now and has been for a long time. What I worry about is the randomness and unpredictability of events, the over emphasis of CCTV and people wondering about in a world of their own. I’m not necessarily blaming anyone for this or suggesting that if we all said good morning to each other and talked to each other at the bus stop some ISIS nutter might be put off, but it does concern me that we seem to have become terribly atomised as a society and I don’t think that’s a good thing.
Oh dear, I’m rambling. Over and out, time for a coffee.
slotbadger says
Yet ‘successful’ assassinations of major political figures, in the West at any rate, have been less and less over the last 100 years or so.
But this reminds me that I read somewhere how Teddy Roosevelt refused security, believing himself able to dodge a bullet. And when someone actually took a pop at him during a speech in 1912, he just carried on, announcing, “I don’t know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose!”
dai says
Yeah, 60s were a bit crazier for the US, Bay of Pigs, Cuban missile crisis (almost World War 3) Vietnam, assassinations of JFK, RFK and MLK. Race riots, protesting students gunned down etc. (Sounds like a Billy Joel song) But give Trump a year or two ….
Baron Harkonnen says
I reckon the next 4 years are going to be even crazier. This would have been the case no matter who was elected Pres in the Colonies but Donald `they`re out to get me` Trump guarantees this. Diety f%@kin` help us!