1. The Inauguration—A Really Big “Shew”?

I’ve been reading with interest the controversy about Barack Obama’s decision to have Rick Warren deliver the invocation at the Inauguration in January.

Warren’s opposition to gay marriage has made him a polarizing figure and many Obama supporters feel betrayed by Warren’s inclusion.

I may have more to say later about Warren himself and the controversy regarding his position, but today I would like to comment on why this may actually be a shrewd decision on Obama’s part.

If you’re a Boomer like me, one of the things you remember about growing up was watching The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday nights. I know this is horrifyingly antique to those of you born in later generations, but at that time, there were only three networks with programming to watch. The perennial favorite on Sunday nights was Sullivan’s variety show. The reason for its popularity was Sullivan’s guests.

Sullivan made sure his show had something for everyone. He scheduled comedians, acrobats, jugglers, excerpts from Broadway shows and musicians. Those entertainers featured both black and white entertainers. Sullivan was known for mispronouncing the word “show” as “shew” (“shoe”), as in “We have a really big shew for you tonight.”

As time went on, he was also known for scheduling controversial acts. For example, he brought on Elvis Presley despite protests that Presley’s act was lewd. Many will remember Sullivan coming on camera after Presley performed, standing right next to Presley, and rebuking Presley’s critics by saying, “This is a decent, really fine boy.”

So, if you were a teenager, you might endure the acts your parents liked in order to see an Elvis Presley or The Beatles or some other rock n’ roll act that week. (Remember folks, no MTV or CMT available). By the same token, your parents endured those rock n’ roll acts to see the performers they liked.

Could it be Obama, like Sullivan, is planning his own “really big shew” in such a way to offer an incentive for everyone to watch the complete show? And might we be better off for the experience?

2. Another Bullet Dodged

The crisis hasn’t received the attention the plight of the automakers themselves has, but GMAC (the finance arm of General Motors) has gotten involved in the tainted mortgage business themselves and has been flirting with bankruptcy. GMAC funds GM Dealers’ “floor plans”, i.e. the vehicles available for sale on the dealers’ lots. Without that type of funding, car buying (in fact the whole auto industry) would be at significant risk.

To avert that happening, GMAC had requested approval as a bank holding company. The last day to have that action approved before bankruptcy being required was yesterday, December 26. Approval would make TARP funding available to GMAC and avert bankruptcy. At the last minute Wednesday night December 24, the Federal Reserve did approve that petition. In approving the action, restrictions were put on ownership of GMAC by GM and Ceberus Capital Management Company (the latter also owns Chrysler.)

Of note is how little this critical action was reported. Neither the CNN nor MSNBC web sites have listings on the action. I had to Google in order to find a news story about it.

Here’s a factual account of the action at this link.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/9081226.004/gmac-bank-approved-by-fed---elligible-for-tarp-bailout-funds

Here’s another link. Although it’s from the Huffington Post, the article is basically factual reporting and has somewhat more detail than the first one.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/25/gmac-will-be-eligible-to-_n_153435.html

This story illustrates the continuing theme for the coming year. What is the proper interaction between government, business and consumers to heal a sick economy and remove the causes of the current illness? If what we were doing before led to where we are now, then we should probably stop doing those things. But what, specifically, are “those things” and what “things” should be done now?