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Sure, I was going to do a Top Ten or "Best of" list...but upon perusing the MediaCopp archives, well, let's just call these the "Mediocre of 09."

1). The Odd Commentators (from April 28)...the sad story of a right wing talk show host (Fox News' Sean Hannity) who let his mouth write checks that his courage (or lack thereof) couldn't cash. A delightful side note, however, his counterpart, left winger Keith Olbermann of MSNBC has boldly announced he "will go to jail," rather than be forced to purchase health care from an insurance company...and well, stay tuned for our next episode live from Leavenworth.

2). The Sarah Chronicles (from November 20)...I wrote this slab of deathless prose after hearing "Hardball" host Chris Matthews of MSNBC, calling out all the "white people" attending those Sarah Palin book signings. Right away, I thought, "not that there's anything wrong with that," (like on Seinfeld)...because Matthews was holding a sort of "round table" discussion...and both he AND his guests were reveling in their, harumph, superiority over those people...much like the mean spirited (though lovable) characters on Seinfeld.

3). No, uh-uh, I wasn't there...not me, no... (from April 17)...okay, I know it was tax time, but why...OH WHY...did the "anti-tax" crowd (of whom I have considerable regard) have to go out and hold these Tea Parties...and why...OH WHY...did the entire Fox News Network (of whom I HAD previously given the benefit of the doubt...at least over NPR, PBS, and the entire bloc of slanted NBC news programming)...why...OH WHY, did Fox have to seemingly "sanction" this quote-unquote news event. Talk about stupid...well, naive, to be less Seinfeld-ian about it...

4). We're off to see the Wizard (from January 29)...want more political satire? Yes, please...a whole cast of characters from today's headlines discover they're not in D.C. anymore. Dorothy (Hillary Clinton) just wanted to go home...and she meets danger, intrigue, and hilarity (heh-heh, get it?) along the way...

5). Project this!!!! (from May 19)...closer to home, MediaCopp comments on the inane special election held in Californica...the election, I guess, was to help guide our clueless politicians in how to solve our state's budget crisis. What was patently obvious, however...was that THIS time, the big shots in Sacramento (much like D.C.) didn't even attempt to hide their disdain for the voters and that OUR VOTES would REALLY not matter either way...

Okay, that's it for now...stay tuned for MediaCopp 2010...I promise...we're JUST getting started!

Woo-hoo!! Health care is now free...every American will now have health coverage!! It's about time...what? It's not? What do you mean, "it's just the Senate vote?" You're kidding...

Reports indicate, however, that under the Senate version, up to 30 million additional Americans will have health care...but wait...weren't previous reports more like 45-48 million uninsured?

How are they proposing to cover the "up to" folks? Oh, expansion of medicaid? States pick up the additional costs? Huh? Individual mandate? What? Oh, unless you're quote-unquote poor...

Oh well, at least there's a public option...and folks can buy into medicare as early as age 55. What? They can't? Those provisions were taken out of the bill?

Okay, okay...but at least we're all agreed on how we get to health care (for all)...what? What do you mean obstructionist Republicans? We were never going to get their votes anyway...

Well, our majority party took care of business, right? Lieberman was kept in line...and Landrieu, and Nelson too...and it only took several hundred million dollars...at least their states scored...

Boxer and Feinstein...here in the (less-than) great state of California...also reaped huge rewards for their support...we received...uh...well...it's free, right? I DID say it was free...

Anyway, it's a victory, right...WE finally did something...instead of status quo, we are making changes....unless of course, it's more of the same...

That's the sound of Roger Daltrey of The Who...or for those less informed, the opening to the insipid television series, CSI: Miami, and the over-acting, ever-emoting (not!) David Caruso...

But actually, that's just me, MediaCopp, hoping that our illustrious media will NOT lap up all the current DC shenanigans, much like they did in the 90's...when they (we) foolishly assumed all was well because our wallets were bulging...oops...

Let me just say, "I" won't be fooled again...well, not that I was fooled last time...BUT, I feel much to blame because I didn't say anything...except vote for Ross Perot...which only gave us eight (8) years of the "Wienie Wagger," and subsequently, that dolt from Texas...

On a lighter note, well, a vindicated note anyway...check the MediaCopp archives...I previously made mention of Tiger Woods as a "prime" candidate for steroid use...someone from whom the media would turn the other way...no, I'm not saying Viagra is a performance enhancing drug (well, it is...but it's not illegal)...and to those of you who claim illegal performance enhancing drugs wouldn't help golfers, what planet are you from?

Hey, I'm starting to enjoy The Rachel Maddow Show, weeknights on MSNBC...it's nice to see that there are buffoons on both sides...I mean, Fox DOES have Glenn Beck...you know, I'd really like to see a debate between those two...and no, I'm not being sarcastic...although just mentioning either one of their names makes me gag...

Speaking of MSNBC...I've been consistently watching the big three, Maddow, Chris Matthews, and (trumpet sound please) Keith Olbermann the last week or so...first, Maddow is a joke, much like the aforementioned Beck...second Matthews seems almost lost, I mean, trying to do a legitimate show between those two bozos...and Olbermann? Oh please, what is he...the lefts answer to Rush Limbaugh?

After the Demoncraps pulled the public option and the Medicare expansion out of the Senate Health bill, Olbermann "went off." He blamed EVERYBODY! Of course, mostly Republicans and the insurance industry, but he also called (Connecticut Senator) Joe Lieberman a criminal and referred to the President as weak...

He also said that he would NOT pay for mandatory health care through a private insurer...he said he "didn't care," and they could "fine" him and (even) "jail" him if he was forced to buy health insurance and there was no "public option," or "medicare buy-in." I guess he's trying to "one-up" Sean Hannity (of Fox fame) who volunteered to be waterboarded to prove it wasn't torture...too bad...I'd like to see Olbermann navigate his way through Leavenworth...hey, makes for good reality TV...

Word has it that Venezuela head man, er I mean, hench man, Hugo Chavez, gave a lengthy rant of his own at the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen...a lengthy rant bemoaning the evils of capitalism...to THUNDERING APPLAUSE AND STANDING OVATIONS!! Maybe the aforementioned Matthews should have called the Copenhagen summit, "enemy territory."

So, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is Time Magazine's Man of the Year...because his guidance helped our country avert a financial disaster and lessened the severity of the Bush recession. Hmm, wasn't he APPOINTED by Bush?? Hmm?

Closer to home, one of my former employers, the Sacramento County Probation Department, has settled the law suit filed against them by the infamous Prison Law Center...the suit alleged among other charges that probation staff routinely (both) verbally and physically abused youths in their care...not enough room here to point out all the holes in their case, and the unethical manner in which they (PLC) pursued their version of justice, but...oh yeah, the settlement was for $1.8 million...of which the attorneys received over $700,000...yeah, it was for the kids, sure...hey, is that Pete Townsend, I hear?

Before I comment on the Global Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen (THAT will happen upon the President's arrival next week and will be predicated upon his reception there...will (the press) be icy or relatively rabid or perhaps just lukewarm)...anyway, before that, I must MUST ask exactly WHAT is "Niebuhrian modesty?" "What the hell?" Well, thank you, Buck...let me explain...

I have received numerous critiques of my postings and aside from the usual, "well, it's just a blog," or "I don't read political stuff," or "you suck," the major complaint is that it's difficult to follow my theme(s). I plead guilty by reasons of ignorance to those indictments (I'm still learning), however, after reading newspaper column after column after column, I KNOW it," ain't cuz I use big woids."

David Brooks of the New York Times wrote a column yesterday which for the most part was favorable to the President...not so much for anything "glowing," but for the usual (more or less) fact that he wasn't George W. Bush. There wasn't much earth shattering...much like my posts...except that Brooks has a few more readers than me.

What jumped out at me, from reading the column (which was entitled "Afghanistan strategy reveals complexity of Obama's leadership), was when Brooks described Obama's style as "cloaked in what you might call Niebuhrian modesty." WHAT??!!?? No, that wasn't Buck; that was me this time...and I don't think I would EVER call ANYTHING "Niebuhrian."

Other newshounds (I hesitate to call them journalists), made similar comments following the President's speech at West Point in which he called for additional troops to be sent to Afghanistan. However, none of them used the term "Niebuhrian modesty." Hey, maybe it'll become the new "gravitas," (the term which came in vogue after it was used by EVERY news organization as they tried to describe what Bush lacked in his presidency).

But Brooks didn't stop there, he went on to, of course, make sure his readers did not misinterpret his use of the term as indicating that President Obama was ambivalent...even though, to be fair, don't you think he had the right...I mean, placating the right while tossing a bone to the left so as not to be abandoned...NOT that the left would ever abandon him)...

Fast forward to the last two sentences of his column...no, it wasn't "I love Obama," or "Obama rules." The sentences read quite simply, for us to "embrace the complexity," and "learn to live with the dispassion." How does that relate to "Niebuhrian modesty?" Well, I would advise, ala Laugh-in (for those of you who remember Rowan and Martin), you to "look it up in your Funk and Wagnalls," but you'll probably have to (just) do like I did...and google it...

Of course I watched the President's speech on Afghanistan last night...admittedly, I was late getting home because my daughter's softball team's workout went "over" by about an hour, but hey, we've gotta have priorities, right?

Anyway, I caught just enough toward the end...as well, I caught commentary on (both) Fox AND MSNBC...so I got the right wing and left wing viewpoints. There was one bit of commonality; that there was really no new information. In other words, we already knew the speech; it had all been leaked by the Pentagon or other sources (MSNBC) or it was information that we already knew several months prior (Fox). Thus, we have all sides, right? NO WE DON'T!

We don't have the MediaCopp side which I believe fits more with mainstream America than anything Keith, Rachel, Bill, Bret, or any tired, former, military "contributor," would have to say. Last night, I heard the president use the same tired mantra...that "we were united," on September 12...or we had the "world's support," etc.; however, it was all "frittered" away by partisan politics or the standard, well-worn, "last eight years" crap...

I'm not going to be trite and suggest (maybe) the President introduce himself to Kubler-Ross (uh, I'm sorry, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross is the noted Swiss-born psychiatrist who wrote the groundbreaking book, "Of Death and Dying," outlining the five stages of grief); however, what I WILL say, is that the country was not necessarily "united," but rather in a stage of "grieving."

Similarly, the WORLD was not "in our corner," or "behind us," or "lending us their full support," It was PITY, pure and simple. We didn't have their "respect," as many of the pundits on one side would claim. They were expressing pity...not so much in the "too bad, so sad," mode; but rather in more of a "chickens coming home to roost," slant ala Reverend Wright...but I digress...

Admittedly, respect is a double-edged sword. Respect can be earned, depending on how one is perceived and our president will have an extremely difficult job, no doubt, as he attempts to "earn" or "re-earn" respect...placating his left with another "apology" tour...or catering to the moderates, even the right, with his "finish the job," speech last night.

The common thread however, in garnering, earning, maintaining respect is consistency. Can Obama be consistent? Or can anyone be consistent in a country so bi-polar that we can't even agree on health care...or on how to pronounce the name, "Pakistan." And yes, I know the President uses the correct pronunciation...what I find hilarious is that Hilary Clinton NOW uses the same pronunciation...hmmmm...