Watching–or Living
The President delivered a speech in prime time last Thursday from outside of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. I watched it like most of you did.
That is, I didn’t.
Instead, we went out to have dinner at a chain restaurant. Nothing fancy–well, I guess based upon a wildly popular song from last year, it was “fancy”. Then we went across the parking lot to the store that Sam Walton founded to pick up a few things…then came home.
Sure, I caught a replay and saw the angry, fist-clenching rhetoric delivered with an equally threatening background, using Marines as props in a fiery red glow.
But most of us were too busy having a life to change our plans to make sure we were near a radio or television. Even the major broadcast TV networks didn’t bother to carry the speech, which is curious in and of itself given how willing they have been to serve up hours of air time for the January 6 commission.
It’s good perspective, actually. Instead of watching, people were actually living–taking children to and from school practices, doing grocery shopping, getting a jump on a long holiday weekend.
When the President–any President–speaks, especially with the tone and content of last week’s remarks, as an informed citizen you need to know about it. But maybe not with schedule-altering devotion. It’s a matter of striking the right balance.
