Why is Obama dodging questions about his refusal to use American flag-embossed salad forks?

I know most 'serious' political junkies don't care for Jon Stewart. He's a funny man so obviously he has nothing serious to say. 'Serious' types like to mock people who watch Stewart as unsophisticated consumers of infotainment. Of course, the corporate establishment media trivializes news far more than Stewart, The Onion or other satirists.

Stewart's The Daily Show is without doubt one of the most informative shows on television. The reason is because Stewart connects the dots in a way that you don't get from mainstream media journalists obsessed with access and schmoozing. The most damning pieces on The Daily Show are almost always snipets of politicians or journalists IN THEIR OWN WORDS.

Stewart was first that I saw, but not the only, media observer to to rip ABC News for their disgraceful handling of the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama debate a few days ago.

The moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous wasted the first 50 (FIFTY) minutes of the debate on inane questions about pastors, lapel pins, elitism, old friends, sniper fire and other contrived non-issues of zero interest to most Americans with real problems to worry about. They were so silly that Stewart even chided them for stealing his material!

It took nearly an hour into the 'debate' before the Fourth Estate representatives got around to asking a question that non-elitists might actually care about. And Stephanopolus started that question, "Number one on people's minds is the economy..."

If it was number one on people's minds, Stewart wondered, why the heck did he wait until the 16th question to ask it?!!

I perfectly understand why Ralph Nader and running mate Matt Gonzalez want to get into the presidential and vice-presidential debates. They know that their vote total would sky rocket if people were made aware of their progressive agenda, if people could hear the two in their own words. This is why the Democrat- and Republican-controlled corporate debate commission won't let them.

But I'm left to wonder... even if they were allowed into the debates, would they actually get a chance to talk about their solutions for the serious issues facing Americans or would they be bombarded with questions about their steadfast refusal to wear American flag boxer shorts?


Recommended reading: 'Merchants of Trivia'