commons-blog: Losing the Washington Commons
From one end of the Mall to the other, billboards and huge television monitors stream across the green lawn, promoting Vanilla Pepsi all in celebration of the first NFL game of the season. It seems particularly disgusting to me that the Mall, our nation's commons, is stripped of its value even for one day.America, Brought To You by . . . (washingtonpost.com)
The event was deemed so auspicious that George W. Bush took yet more time off from fighting the war on terrorism to appear, via videotape, at the end of the concert and just before the game, in the manner of a TV huckster. He tried to make some connection between football and "the spirit that guides the brave men and women" of the military, much as the concert had done. He also said pro football "celebrates the values that make our country so strong." Like what, violence and greed? Then, in intense close-up, the leader of the Free World asked the trademarked rhetorical question, "Are you ready for some football?"
