As the Chinese proverb goes, "May you live in interesting times." Interesting is an understatement as we enter week two of adjusting to the idea of having made history. We're at the stage where life goes on -- yesterday's papers are recycled, celebrities are still making fools of themselves, and you just ran out of milk -- but the press is gonna ride this ratings bonanza to the last stop and beyond, even if the premises are, at times, a touch flimsy.
Here's a sampling from the avalanche of think pieces floating around today:
- New York says Obama's win is a revenge of the black nerds, which makes us wonder why no-one bothered to get a quote from Steve Urkel, the original so-nerdy-he's-practically-white black guy.
- Not to be outpundited, the Times calls the Dem's landslide a victory for skinny black dudes, with a piece by author Colson Whitehead -- the original self-proclaimed skinny black dude -- who reveals that some days, he so skinny, he forgets to eat dinner!
- Also in New York's pages, Kurt Andersen ponders how the hell proudly secessionist-minded New Yorkers will deal with feeling like they have something in common with the rest of America all of a sudden. We submit this answer: lots and lots of therapy.
- Just try not to be mildly (or even fully) weirded out by Maureen Dowd's rumination on this moment in history: She tries tackling her "cute black mailman" so she can ask him what it feels like to be black this week.
