Saturday, February 2, 2013

Shadows of Groundhog Day

Ever since the release of the seminal Groundhog Day movie, February 2 has become synonymous with a type of recurring déjà vu. The movie veers into Nietzsche's eternal recurrence of the same, Camus' Myth of Sisyphus – and even the possibility of man becoming a god-like Superman. Boy, does this have “BHO’s” fingerprints all over it or what?

So I dedicate this Groundhog Day redux to our Glorious (and possibly god-like) Leader and Shadow-Master: without his most transparent administration ever we would not be able to see through the fog of government. Won’t you please join me in enjoying, again, some previous  Groundhog Day celebrations:

From March, 2010:

Starting early this morning; it was Groundhog day all over again. Honestly, I think Big Guy has milked this signing of the Obamacare bill for all it’s worth. This is like, what, the 12th time he’s inked it? Lincoln only had to sign the Emancipation Declaration once. FDR only signed the Social Security Bill once. What’s up with Big Guy? Do we not have enough photo-ops around here?

ground hog daySigning the Healthcare and Education Bill, March 30, 2010. Note Big Guy’s lavender tie, color coordinated with Nancy’s suit and necklace in a deeper shade of purple.

march 23 signingSigning the Healthcare Bill, March 23, 2010. Here our tie is coordinated with Mini-Me’s and Nancy’s eyes. (read more)

 

Two years ago Groundhog Day coincided with the “Arab Spring” uprising during which the Egyptians “unfriended” President Mubarak:

I had a restless night, and every time I woke the television was playing the same thing, over and over again. I thought I was having the vapors until I realized that little Mo had tuned the TeeVee to a movie channel that was having a “Ground Hog Day” marathon. What a relief! We’ve got enough déjà vu going on around here with that whole Egyptian mess.

Unrelated to the overthrow of our friend in Egypt, the post that day also covered an embarrassing incident involving ValJar, in which she mistook an General for a waiter (an honest mistake at a black tie dinner):

You know the old saying “To a hammer, every problem looks like a nail?” Well, it looks like it has a corollary: “To an imperialist, every uniform looks like a waiter.”

valerie jarrett

Ok, Ok, it’s true. Val did ask a decorated US General to fetch her a glass of wine at a black tie dinner. Butt for goodness sake let’s take all of the circumstances into consideration before we jump to conclusions. For starters, the affair was held at the Alfalfa Club. The Alfalfa Club!? Isn’t that just a little racist? (read more)

ourgangalfalfa_buckwheat

And on Groundhog Day of 2011 we commemorated some of Lady M’s attempts to see her shadow:

Allow me to apologize before I begin. We have another historical first to rack up so it’s my dutiful responsibility to report: Yesterday marked the first time ever that a FLOTUS “dropped to give us 25” in a celebrity contest on national daytime television:

ellenx-wide-community

Although this was not, technically, the first time Lady M has done pushups on television. That international milestone was reached last June when we were in Africa and Lady M challenged Archbishop Tutu to match her awesomely toned guns in a few on-stage pushups.

She whipped his butt too, so let’s not be making this into a racial thing.

michelle_tutu

And when all is said and done, let me be perfectly clear: this was just an exhibition, not a competition. (Read more)

And since Groundhog Day is really more about shadows than the Arab Spring, I thought you might enjoy this groundhog day-esque ode to Big Guy’s shadow, from the occasion of his 2010 Great Asian trip.

Seriously, by the time we got to Japan, we were just a shadow of our former self.

shadow

My Shadow

by Robert Lewis Stevenson

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,

And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.

He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;

And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—

Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;

For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,

And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.

He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,

And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.

He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;

I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

One morning, very early, before the sun was up,

I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;

But my lazy little shadow, like an errant sleepy-head,

Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

And that can’t be a good thing.

big guy introduces his shadow who will be addressing APECBO introduces his shadow, who will be reading a speech with TOTUS

 

more shadows Damn! Stop bugging me. Go Away!

 

me and my shadowDoes this Shadow make my ears look big? (Read more)

Well, that’s a wrap for this year’s Groundhog Day re-broadcast. I leave you with this report directly from Punxsutawney:

groundhog day againExtended Forecast: Cloudy with a very slight chance of meatballs, as ground beef hit an all-time high of $3.82 a pound last week.

And since it is Groundhog Day, here’s a replay from Phil, covering our first, second historic Inauguration of BHO: