Ch... ch... ch... change

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

We're nearly a week beyond the election now, and ever since Tuesday night I've been trying to wrap my head around what "change" means. Obviously, the election changed the racial landscape in America in a positive way, but in terms of policy, I'm still not entirely clear on what's going to happen (although, to be honest, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for now). I think as important a job as POTUS is, you can't blame the president for everything or give him credit for everything, because the president alone can only do so much. I also don't think that the president-elect will solve all of our problems or bring about the Apocolypse, both of which I have heard people say, more or less.

Since it's apparently going to take Congress a while to get to work (probably figuratively and literally), I read that Obama is trying to figure out what "change" he can bring about right away through executive orders. What I know about executive orders mostly comes from watching 24 (and those mostly involve putting Jack Bauer in jail), so I thought I'd do a little research. According to "ThisNation.com," which I'm sure is a highly credible website given that it has a bald eagle for a logo, "Executive Orders (EOs) are legally binding orders given by the President, acting as the head of the Executive Branch, to Federal Administrative Agencies." I think it would be more fun to call them KJIs (Kim Jong Ils), but we'll stick with EOs.

I'm sure in the beginning he'll be focused on critical stuff like the economy and creating "Oprah Day" (I think I saw more shots of Oprah than Joe Biden on election night). I can't imagine it takes long to type out and sign an EO (I'm sure he gets a good secretary, right?), so I have a few I'd like him to throw in there while he's at it that I think would represent real and meaningful change.

• EO #VII - Permanent Rocky Week. This past week on AMC, they were showing a different Rocky movie every night. I realize that McCain was using the Rocky theme on the campaign trail, but to show that he has no hard feelings, Obama could force AMC to do this all the time. This would solve at least three problems. First, it's always nice to have a Rocky movie as a fallback in case nothing else is on. Second, it will keep AMC from showing Clint Eastwood movies and bad horror flicks all the time. Third, if people watch enough Rocky movies, they might get fired up and get the economy going (especially on Friday nights, when they'll spend whatever it takes to have a night out instead of staying home to watch Rocky V). I realize a side effect could be people doing stuff like drinking raw eggs, but I think it's worth the risk:

[Quick aside - Rocky IV is an interesting movie to watch these days, now that it's the Americans (including Stallone) pounding the 'roids and now that the Russians are starting to get belligerent again. I'll admit, though, that it's hard to watch Brigitte Nielsen with a straight face anymore.]

• EO #:: - Risk Roll-Back. I saw an ad for Risk, now updated for "faster gameplay." I think that defeats the purpose. Risk isn't the greatest game ever invented; you largely are reliant on luck, and there are only so many possible strategies. The main point in playing is to be able to claim that you got through an entire, lengthy game. I think they need to fix this immediately - maybe even make the game longer. I'm sure during Thanksgiving we'll try to sneak a game in, and if it's not at least four hours, I'll be disappointed.


• EO #1-877-481-6826 - Silence the FreeCreditReport.com Guy. With all of the other difficult things going on in the world, I'm not sure if we need any more of this guy. I think it's time for a "change."
  

I could add more, but I don't want to be greedy. I'll admit - I'm not a huge fan of Obama's tax plan, and I think McCain would be much better than his campaign showed, so I voted the other way, but he is my president now, so I don't think I'm asking too much.