Obama and Thomas

Yesterday President Obama hosted the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins at the White House.  This is part of the normal tour for championship teams of American sports.  Everybody today is talking about the fact that one of the leaders of the team, goalie Tim Thomas, refused to attend because he doesn’t like Obama.  My only question is, “Why is this news?”  Who gives a rat’s butt why an entitled millionaire based solely on his ability to stop frozen plastic from entering a net does anything other than his chosen profession.  This gets back to one of my pet peeves, the amount of political currency Americans give to celebrities.  Sports stars, movie stars, and other type of celebrities often insert themselves into the political process simply based on their stardom – not because they bring anything to the process other than their fame.  Barbara Streisand is a great example, she can sing, act and direct but she’s often quoted for her political beliefs.  This is someone who didn’t even finish high school but is granted a voice over more qualified people simply because she can hit musical notes.  Bruce Willis is a really fine actor but why is he trotted out for Republican media events?  These celebrities are not the people they portray on the screens. Most sports stars have devoted their development purely to the physical at the expense of the intellectual or spiritual to reach their lofty status.  None of this qualifies any of these bozos to have the elevated status to comment on something most of them probably don’t even begin to understand.  Everyone is entitled to a voice but let’s not ascribe any more portent to the words of a celebrity who may have worked hard at their chosen profession but in most cases do not have a clue what they’re talking about and were probably prepped by their handlers on what to say anyways.  I had a good friend in the Army and we were working on a detail in Hawaii where President Clinton, much more worthy of contempt than Obama, would be passing by.  This friend refused to shake hands when Clinton passed by, which was fine.  He quietly chose to express his views without drawing attention to himself.   I actually like Obama and he was gracious and funny in his remarks yesterday with the Bruins, which should have been the story.  Thomas should be more concerned about his rising goals against average instead of taking a cheap shot at a guy who wanted to honor him. 

NOTE:  The light show from yesterday morning was from a chimney fire in the neighbor’s house.  It looks like some extensive damage but they were back in the house last night and there was nothing in the news so we’re assuming everyone’s okay.